Viveport Review: The Kremer Collection VR Museum

Experience over 70 pieces of art in this beautifully crafted virtual museum, featuring work from Rembrandt and other Old Master painters from the Dutch Golden Age.

By Joshua Hawkins, Greenlit Content

Curated by George & Ilone Kremer, The Kremer Collection VR Museum brings attention to the Dutch Golden Age of art by giving art lovers an entirely new way to experience the works of Old Master painters like Rembrandt, Frans Hal, and more. Unlike a physical museum, The Kremer Collection allows you to get up close and personal with the paintings, even allowing you to look behind each one to take in every tiny detail of the creation. It’s a novel idea that translates exceptionally well to VR.

What makes the experience special is the fact that every single painting has the perfect lighting to allow users to experience every brush stroke and color at its peak, giving you a new value for the artistic work of 17th century painters. Every painting is also accompanied by audio and written information, which gives additional insight into the pieces and their meanings.

The entire setting also alludes to the Golden Age of Dutch paintings, with the museum built to feel like something the painters would have created. It’s an architectural masterpiece that had me in awe as I stood in the center, with the beautiful dome spread out before me.

In order to capture complete authenticity and make sure that the paintings were recreated to the utmost level of realism, each piece was photographed over 2500 times to make sure that every detail and tiny stroke can be seen. It’s an experience that you won’t find anywhere else, and being able to stand that close to a Rembrandt piece is inspiring and breathtaking—even if it isn’t real. The authenticity of each piece, as well as the beauty of the environment around it creates a great sense of presence, and even though you never fully interact with anything, it still feels like you’re there.

My only real complaint is the fact that you’re forced to sign up for an account to view The Kremer Collection. This is something that isn’t made clear until after you hop into the experience for the first time, which means that you have to remove your VR headset and go to the website in order to do that. This isn’t a huge issue if you use VR often, but if you keep your Vive tucked away until you need it, this might be a bit complicated to get started. On top of having to create an account, I also experienced an issue where my audio wasn’t available until after I restarted the application, so if you experience the same issue, just restart the app and you should be good to go.

The amount of work that went into creating this virtual environment is incredible. The Kremers have done an excellent job of curating this collection, and the amount of information at your disposal will give you several hours of content to enjoy and experience. The authenticity of each painting also drives home a complete sense of realism, and being able to view these masterpieces from the comfort of my home is something that really sets the experience apart from all the rest.

The Kremer Collection VR Museum is available on Viveport.