Vincent Van Gogh
This weekend we had the opportunity to enjoy Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience. It was like stepping into a painting: as you enter sunflowers swirl around you in a dizzying fashion.
Subsequent rooms display copies of the artist’s work interspersed with fact boards that discuss Van Gogh’s brief tortured life, his relationship with other artists, and his brother, Theo. Music plays in the background, and a disembodied voice speaks quotes attributed to Van Gogh.
A small side room holds a flower vase. Sit for a moment and watch as bright colors bloom into irises and go on to morph into sunflowers and roses. Emerge from this dark space and progress into another alcove to learn more about his art through film and spoken word.
Next, walk into a 3-D representation of his Bedroom in Arles, France, or cross this room to enter the Asylum where he battled his schizophrenic demons after cutting off his ear.
The piece de resistance is the final exhibit. Settle into a reclining lounge chair in The Immersive Room: a 20,000-square-foot area of spectacular 360-degree light and sound story projections of his most compelling works.
Children (or those with an inner artist) may enjoy the opportunity to add their own impression of his art in the coloring room stocked with tables, black and white painting templates, and boxes of crayons. For those who wish to delve deeper, there is an optional, cost-plus Virtual Reality space.
Which Van Gogh do you appreciate? Van Gogh who painted Starry Night with a bright sky and a dark city.
Or the artist who created Starry Night Over the Rhone where the light emits from the town and stars have a minimal twinkle.
The Immersive Experience was fascinating and thought-provoking. If you live in one of the exhibit cities or happen to travel to a location, consider taking in the multi-media walk through Van Gogh’s life and art.
