Beyond Van Gogh – The Immersive Experience

 

“Paintings have a life of their own that derives from the painter’s soul.”

Vincent Van Gogh

I had heard about this monumental traveling art exhibit that is all the rage across our country long before it arrived in our city, Augusta, Georgia. My friend Anna, called and asked if I was interested in going to see the exhibit. To be honest, initially I was not that interested since I only knew about a few of Van Gogh's masterpieces and wasn’t so sure I even liked his style. He was not my favorite artist but I did like some of his work so I agreed to go. 

 

I read up on Vincent Willem van Gogh’s life before going to the show and learned more about him than just the incident where he cut his ear. He had a sad life and was a tortured artist that lived in poverty most his life because of his depression and mood swings. He was very close to his brother, Theo and wouldn’t have been able to survive without him. Theo stayed very close to Vincent and supported him throughout his life both financially and emotionally.

Vincent was born to an upper-middle class family in Zundert, Netherlands on March 30, 1853. As a child, he was quiet, serious, and thoughtful and started drawing at an early age. As Vincent got older, he suffered psychotic episodes and delusions and spent time going in and out psychiatric hospitals. During his last two years of life, he really found himself and his style with his paintings.

He was known for painting landscapes, still life, portraits and self portraits. In fact, he painted 45 self portraits including one portrait with the bandages over his head from when he cut his ear. All the other self portraits were painted from his right side. He was a fabulous artist, yet he only sold one piece of art before his death. The main reason for him not being successful during his life as that most people considered him a madman and a failure. He painted over 2,100 paintings. The sad part is right when his painting were gaining fame and notoriety, Vincent committed suicide at the young age of 37 on July 29, 1890.

After paying the entrance fee, we started on our adventure into the 30,000 square foot exhibit in the James Brown Arena in beautiful downtown Augusta, Georgia. They allow only a certain number of people in to see the show every 15 minutes. That was great so you can get the full effect of the show and can see everything without it being crowded.

The first room you enter was called the Written Panel Room. There were panels hung up where you get to read parts of letters from Vincent to his brother Theo which describes his feelings about life, art theories, and know a little of what was happening with him during different time periods. Vincent wrote hundreds of letters to Theo and Theo wrote back to him about 45 times. Sadly Theo died only six months after Vincent.

After both Vincent's and Theo's death, Johanna arranged all the letters they had written and had them published in a book originally called “Brieven Aan Zijn Broeder” and later translated into English and called the book, “The letters of Vincent Van Gogh” in 1914. I found this room to very moving as you could really feel what the artist was feeling. I was drawn in and had to read every line.

Next was the Waterfall Room which showed a projection on the wall of cascading digital dots moving fluidly with graceful movements. That was beautifully done and after you watch for awhile, you felt yourself get a calm and peaceful feeling.

Then we entered the final room where his stunning paintings digitally wrapped on the floors and walls. and beautiful and peaceful music playing. This show is on a continuous loop so you can enter at any time and will still see the entire show. The room was set up with dividers and long open wall space where they projected four trillion content pixels in high resolution throughout in the room. They projected over 300 pieces of artwork in a way I had never seen. The painting actually came alive with movement. It was so amazing to see.

Standing there watching the paintings come to life was very emotional. I can only imagine the joy he would have felt seeing his art work come to life with such graceful movements and knowing the joy he gave so many people with his masterpieces. He painted the beauty that he saw in life as well as some of the darkness. When the painting Le Moulin de Blute-Fin from 1886 showed on the wall, it came to life where the blades of the windmill started moving. Then in the distance, the birds took flight. How wonderful.

Another stunning scene was the flowering trees that came to life when all the petals started blowing away. So many beautiful paintings appeared that started with just brush strokes displayed and then rippled to another painting. I felt like I was looking over Van Gogh's shoulder while he painted from start to finish on some of his work. The music enveloped me and I felt so peaceful and thankful to this amazing man and his talents. When they showed the portraits that he painted, one of his self portraits started to blink. At first I thought I was seeing things. What a wonderful effect.

This mind blowing experience was created by French Canadian and creative director, Mathieu St-Arnaud. I would have loved to see the behind scenes of how they put this show together as it was truly incredible. After seeing the show, the last room to go through is where you can buy Van Gogh items. As I left this show, I felt very calm, feeling ambitious to do more artwork, and with a new understanding of Vincent van Gogh. I now have to say, that is one of my favorite artists.

If you would like to see this show in Augusta, Georgia, it is only here till June 26^th. If you miss it here, check them out at another city. This show is worth every penny it costs to see it. Enjoy, fantasize, relax, and absorb the beauty in this show and the world.

Till next time. Bye for now.