The Musée national Picasso-Paris has been running The Metamorphoses of Guernica since April 8. The museum VR experience is about Picasso’s 1937 painting, and it plays in the auditorium of the hôtel Salé. It costs 7 euros and runs 15 minutes. It is open to ages 10 and up, and it plays in French, English, Spanish and Mandarin. The run closes on September 6. Screenings take place during normal opening hours, in an auditorium the museum already had.

Nicolas Thépot directed the piece. Lucid Realities, the Musée national Picasso-Paris and VIVE Arts co-produced it. VIVE Arts is the arts and technology programme run by HTC Corporation. Unframed Collection handles distribution. The narrative follows Picasso’s canvas from its commission for the 1937 International Exhibition to the Reina Sofía in Madrid. The writer Juan Larrea and the photographer Dora Maar tell the story.

Seated on a swivelling stool, with no tracked floor

Sortiraparis reviewed the experience. It describes a host seating each visitor on a swivelling stool that turns 360 degrees. The guest stays seated throughout. There is no tracked floor, no fitted arena, no marshalling of groups through a space and no headset-to-floor calibration between runs.

The site has covered the expedition format repeatedly. Excurio‘s Horizon of Khufu runs 45 minutes, needs a minimum of 1,000 square metres, and carries up to 130 visitors moving simultaneously through the space. That is a stream-through model in the haunted-house sense, with many groups in the space concurrently rather than one batch at a time. A host institution has to find the hall, take it out of service, and fit it.

VIVE Arts is the co-producer again

The Metamorphoses of Guernica is the latest in a run of European cultural commissions carrying VIVE Arts as co-producer or supporter. Its own published project list includes Versailles: Lost Gardens of the Sun King at the Château de Versailles (March 2025 to January 2026), La Magie Opéra at the Palais Garnier (May to August 2025), Terracotta Warriors: Secrets of the First Emperor’s Mausoleum in Xi’an. The list also includes Playing with Fire: An Immersive Odyssey with Yuja Wang at the Southbank Centre in London, which the site covered in July. The site also reported the Versailles partnership when it was announced.

Cécile Debray, President of the Musée national Picasso-Paris, said: “The Musée national Picasso-Paris wanted to complement the visit to its collections with a VR film presenting Guernica (1937), one of Picasso’s major works.” She described it as letting visitors “understand the historical context, complex genesis and widespread reception of this masterpiece.”

Unframed Collection licenses more than 100 experiences to museums

Unframed Collection licenses VR and AR content to museums, cultural institutions and libraries. Its catalogue holds more than 100 experiences. It licenses on a pay-per-minute, flat-fee or annual-subscription basis. Its listing does not yet include The Metamorphoses of Guernica.

What this means for cultural producers and venue operators

For cultural producers, a national museum chose 15 minutes at 7 euros. It put the piece in an auditorium instead of building a hall. Unframed licenses the format on a pay-per-minute, flat-fee or annual-subscription basis, which is how a short cultural piece reaches a museum without a fitted arena. The run closes on September 6. LEXRA members compare content licensing and format decisions through the association at lexra.org.

FAQ

What is The Metamorphoses of Guernica? A virtual reality experience at the Musée national Picasso-Paris tracing the history of Picasso’s Guernica, from its 1937 commission through to its installation at the Reina Sofía in Madrid. It is directed by Nicolas Thépot and narrated through the voices of Juan Larrea and Dora Maar.

When does the Guernica VR experience run and what does it cost? April 8 to September 6, 2026, in the auditorium of the hôtel Salé, during museum opening hours of 10am to 6pm. Full price is 7 euros. The experience is about 15 minutes and is available in French, English, Spanish and Mandarin, for ages 10 and up.

Who produced and funded it? Co-produced by Lucid Realities, the Musée national Picasso-Paris and VIVE Arts, the arts and technology programme run by HTC Corporation. Distribution and exploitation are handled by Unframed Collection.

Is it free-roam or seated? Seated. Sortiraparis reports that a host settles each visitor on a swivelling stool that turns 360 degrees, and the visitor remains seated throughout.

What headset does the museum VR experience use? Neither the museum nor VIVE Arts has published the hardware.