Hermitage masterpieces make virtual visit to Korea

Claude Monet's "Woman in the Garden" (Art Works)

Leonardo da Vinci's "Madonna Litta" (Art Works)

Rembrandt's "The Return of the Prodigal Son" (Art Works)

The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, holds the world's largest collection of paintings among its 3 million objects but remains largely out of reach for most international travelers at the moment.

"The Magnificent Hermitage" opens April 30 at Oil Tank Culture Park in Sangam-dong, Seoul, offering a rare chance to experience the museum's vast collection — and a case for digital art even to those who prefer to see their masterpieces in the original form.

The exhibition features more than 80 works drawn from the Hermitage's spaces and collection, including two media facade recreations of the Winter Palace, 20 digital paintings, eight digital sculptures and more than 50 replicas produced in collaboration with the museum.

The exhibition uses immersive technology to recreate the Hermitage's iconic interiors, transporting visitors inside the walls of the Winter Palace. Architectural details like columns, gilded ceilings and ornamental flourishes are digitally rendered to evoke the sensation of walking through one of the world's most storied buildings.

Precision scanning originally developed for the aerospace industry captures brushstroke depth, canvas texture and layered pigment in extraordinary detail, according to Yoo Min-seok, CEO of Artworks, the organizing company.

"We wanted to deliver the finest details of each masterpiece -- the brushstrokes, the texture of the canvas, Yoo said. "These are officially produced digital works made in direct collaboration with the Hermitage Museum itself."

Featured works include Claude Monet's "Jeanne-Marguerite Lecadre in the Garden," Leonardo da Vinci's "Madonna Litta," Henri Matisse's "Dance," Rembrandt's "The Return of the Prodigal Son" and Pierre-Auguste Renoir's "Portrait of the Actress Jeanne Samary."

Tickets are available at a 40 percent early-bird discount through April 28. Adult tickets drop to 13,200 won from the regular price of 22,000 won, with the same discount applied to teenagers (18 and under, regular price 18,000 won) and children (13 and under, regular price 13,000 won).

Poster for "The Magnificent Hermitage" (Art Works)