Genelec and composer Niles Luther immerse visitors in Monet and Venice at the Brooklyn Museum

The Brooklyn Museum’s new exhibition Monet and Venice, the largest Monet showcase in New York in more than 25 years, invites visitors into a deeply emotional and multisensory experience, culminating in an immersive sound installation powered by Genelec monitors.

Featuring a 4.1.4 Dolby Atmos® system comprising four 8330 two-way studio monitors (RF, LF, RR, LR), four 8320 monitors (overheads) and one 7350 subwoofer, the system delivers composer-in-residence Niles Luther’s symphonic score with clarity.

Co-curated by Lisa Small, the Brooklyn Museum’s senior curator of European art, the exhibition explores Monet’s 1908 Venetian paintings alongside centuries of artistic depictions of the city, from Canaletto to the early 20th century. “This is the largest museum presentation of Monet’s work in 25 years in New York City,” stated Small. “We wanted to create something that felt both emotional and innovative, something you can feel as much as see. The Genelec system and Niles’s score made that possible.”

In the final gallery, where Monet’s iconic Venice works are displayed, the sound of Luther’s original composition envelops visitors in a fully realised Atmos mix. “As the composer-in-residence, I wrote a symphonic multi-channel, 4.1.4, down-rendered Dolby Atmos installation in the final room where Monet's Venice paintings reside,” stated Luther.

“I think the most difficult challenge was that this really advanced technology that we work with is not often present or available to encyclopedic museums. When you use sufficiently advanced technology and it’s deployed in a very careful, meticulous and thoughtful way, you get to this point where it almost becomes an illusion. It becomes like magic, and it’s less about the technical details and more about how the work makes you feel. When you walk into that space, does it stop your heart? Does it make you catch your breath? We have achieved that in the final gallery room.”

Luther continued: “From the creative side, as a composer, part of the challenge was how do I take what’s contained in these paintings, and then translate them into the language of music. Write the score, give the score to musicians, go into the studio, rehearse, record, mix, master, install – all within several months. We have Genelec for all the speakers, the 8330s at the ear level, four of them. And then for the 0.1, we have the sub, the 7350, and then four overheads, the 8320s, to give us a 4.1.4 fully supported Dolby Atmos mix. All of this was possible because we were able to calibrate it within GLM, and I was able to take my master file and just come into the museum, and it just plays back beautifully on the calibrated system.”

The Genelec Smart Active Monitoring system allowed Luther and the museum’s technical team to overcome the acoustic limitations of a large, reverberant space. Through GLM’s calibration and detailed grade reports, the team refined frequency balance and reverberation control to create a natural, transparent listening environment.

Paul Stewart, Genelec Inc. senior technical sales manager, remarked: “This installation beautifully demonstrates how precision monitoring can elevate the emotional impact of art. Genelec systems are designed to disappear sonically, and what remains is the artist’s intent. In this case, that means letting Niles’s composition and Monet’s vision merge seamlessly into a single, deeply moving experience. We’re proud to help the Brooklyn Museum realise such an ambitious and innovative concept.”

Small concluded: “It sounds incredible. I mean, the symphony is beautiful. The paintings are beautiful. The design in the gallery and the speakers just make the experience what it is. We really could not be happier about it. And again, that sort of intervention in that gallery is one of the types of things that make a Brooklyn Museum exhibition a kind of unique experience. You won’t get too many other Monet exhibitions where a full-scale symphony is part of the experience.”

Monet and Venice runs until February 1, 2026, at the Brooklyn Museum.