ABSTRACT
Virtual reality (VR) experiences are essentially autonomous interiors, however they have not been considered as part of the history of interiors. This chapter examines the concepts of immersion and empathy central to the development of VR and roots them in the discourse surrounding the design of interior spaces in the nineteenth century. Panoramas are usually identified as the primary historic precedent of VR because they immersed the viewer in a 360-degree illusionistic space; yet it is in the avant-garde decoration of domestic interiors, particularly the work of Nabi artist Édouard Vuillard, that immersion becomes tied to the notion of empathy. Combining the German aesthetic concept of Einfühlung (“feeling into”) with the French sociological concept of sympathy, Vuillard’s commissions for private homes anticipate the utopian idea of VR as an “empathy machine” that could heal society. The chapter concludes with a discussion of Claude Monet’s Water Lilies and the Musée de l’Orangerie’s VR experience based on the works, tying together the history of panoramas, domestic interior decoration, immersion, and empathy.
