Sir Kyffin Williams has joined the ranks of Vincent van Gogh and Paul Cézanne in receiving an all-singing, all-immersive digital tribute at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth.
The landmark bilingual installation, titled Profiad Kyffin Experience, surrounds visitors with animated projections of rugged Welsh hill farms, brooding mountains, and pounding seascapes. Designed to introduce the artist to younger generations, the intimate 30-minute exhibition admits groups of just 10 people at a time.
How Engineers Preserved the Texture of Painted Hills
Capturing the signature thickness of the artist’s work presented a major technical hurdle for the design team. Working in partnership with researchers from Liverpool John Moores University, Focal Studios developed high-fidelity 3D scans to map the heavy layers of paint applied with a palette knife. Additional elements of the installation include a 3D-printed map tracking places the artist walked and painted.
The project required entirely new technical solutions to avoid flattening the oils into standard digital animations. “We felt the pressure. You want to be true to his life, his work, his methods, and he's not around to give us any feedback,” Dennis Outten, Focal Studios Chief Executive, said.
Kyffin’s paintings are so textured that we had to invent two new technologies to do them justice. We’re really proud of this experience, not least because we’ve been able to project his landscapes without losing any of his texture, which is no mean feat.
Dennis Outten, Focal Studios Chief Executive
Visitors move through three distinct rooms near the library’s main entrance. Singer, songwriter and children’s author Casi Wyn helped develop the bilingual experience, while an interactive easel allows visitors to create a self-portrait based on the digital scans.
Archives Grew From a Fifteen-Pound Canvas
The exhibition draws directly from the library’s vast archival holdings, which span around 200 oil paintings, more than 300 original prints, and more than 1,200 works on paper.
The institution’s relationship with the painter began in 1950, when curators purchased an oil painting of the Welsh mountain Cadair Idris from him for just £15 while he was teaching art in London. “Someone would call 'Kyffin's here!' and people would go down and have a cup of tea with him,” Morfudd Bevan said.
Born in Llangefni, Anglesey, in 1918, the landscape and portrait painter studied at the Slade School of Art before returning to his birthplace on Ynys Môn in north Wales, where he would frequently visit the library. He became a Royal Academician and was knighted in 1999. Following his death in 2006, his estate was left to the institution, making it the largest repository of his art anywhere in the world.
Kyffin is one of Wales’s most important artists and he was embraced by the public. His work romanticised Wales, encapsulated the meaning of the country and the idea of hiraeth.
Morfudd Bevan, Art Curator at the National Library of Wales
Tickets Booked Within Ten Days of Release
Demand for the attraction proved immediate, with more than 1,000 tickets booked within 10 days of release, prompting the library to open additional booking slots.
“Innovation isn't a new thing in Wales and this groundbreaking experience reflects how we are constantly looking for new ways to celebrate and share the stories and culture of our nation for the people of Wales and others to experience,” National Library of Wales chief executive Rhodri Llwyd Morgan said.
Primary financial backing came from the Colwinston Charitable Trust through its 30th anniversary fund, with additional support provided by the Welsh Government. The library is also displaying a separate exhibition titled Kyffin: Face to Face at its Riverside gallery in Haverfordwest until April 3, 2027.
While admission to the 30-minute exhibition is free, a small booking fee applies. The installation opens to the general public on Wednesday, November 18, with sessions currently bookable through the end of March 2027, and children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult.
