“Kyffin’s paintings are so textured that we had to invent two new technologies to do them justice,” said Dennis Outten, chief executive of Focal Studios.
The National Library of Wales brings the rugged landscapes of Sir Kyffin Williams to life through a new immersive installation opening on Wednesday, November 18. The Profiad Kyffin Experience uses projection mapping and high-fidelity 3D scans to wrap visitors in the artist’s mountain ranges, hill farms, and stormy seas.
Organizers designed the 30-minute bilingual tour to introduce the 20th-century painter to new audiences. The attraction occupies repurposed office rooms at the library in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion.
Opera singer Sir Bryn Terfel narrates the opening room, telling the story of Williams’ life while digital projections illuminate the walls. The journey continues into a 360-degree projection space where animated hill farmers, sheepdogs, and cattle move across the walls and floor.
“It’s like you’re in one of his paintings, I love it,” Outten told BBC News.
Focal Studios collaborated with creative company leo&hyde to animate the work. A Welsh folk string trio, VRï, performs the original soundtrack, while singer-songwriter Casi Wyn helped shape the bilingual production.
Visitors enter a third room featuring a tactile self-portrait recreation. Guests can touch the digital canvas to feel the dense impasto texture of Williams’ signature palette-knife technique.
Researchers at Liverpool John Moores University helped develop the technology for the interactive easel.
The exhibition also features a 3D-printed topographical map tracing the routes the artist walked.
The Colwinston Charitable Trust funded the project through its 30th anniversary fund, with additional support from the Welsh Government and the Friends of the National Library of Wales. Culture and Sport Minister Heledd Fychan unveiled the installation on Thursday.
The National Library holds the largest collection of Williams’ work globally. The institution houses roughly 2,000 pieces, including about 200 oil paintings and 1,200 works on paper left to the library after the artist died in September 2006.
The institution’s relationship with Williams began in 1950.
Morfudd Bevan, art curator at the library, said staff purchased an oil painting of Cader Idris for £15 and an ink drawing for £7.10 soon after the artist left London’s Slade School of Fine Art.
“The library saw the potential of this young artist,” Bevan told BBC News.
Original pieces by the Anglesey-born painter now sell for tens of thousands of pounds. Alongside the main installation, the library hosts a separate exhibition titled Kyffin: Face to Face at its Riverside gallery in Haverfordwest through April 3, 2027.
Sessions for the exhibition run in small groups and are available to book through the end of March 2027. Admission is free, though a small booking fee applies, and children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult.
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