IMMERSIVE VAN GOGH: LOS ANGELES

52 Places to Go: Week 42

Last week, Art and I went to the Los Angeles installation of the Immersive Van Gogh show--a distinctly Hollywood experience, dazzling, fascinating, and nothing like viewing Van Gogh’s art in a museum, where the art stays firmly in place on the walls. At the theater/gallery for the Immersive Van Gogh exhibit on Sunset Boulevard, light projections of Van Gogh’s art swirled around us–on the four walls of the room, reflected in mirrors, on the floor, and on us, all to the beat of surround sound music–while we sat inside our designated socially distanced circles, masks on. It was like being inside a giant kaleidoscope.

The show, which repeats about every 45 minutes, roughly follows the course of Van Gogh’s life, from his early paintings like The Potato Eaters, to his final super productive phase, including Starry Night. We sat through the show twice–the first time just in awe and absorbing the experience, the second time admiring again, taking more pictures, and changing our position in the room to see the art from a different angle.

The show invites viewers to step into Van Gogh’s paintings and become part of the scene–to sit at the table with the potato eaters, to join a street scene in Arles, to look the artist in the eye in his self-portraits, to fly with crows over a wheat field in Southern France.

In one sequence, we join the artist’s process as the pieces of furniture in his bedroom are drawn, colored, and placed in the room. And because the paintings are magnified on such a huge scale, one can see and appreciate every brush stroke.

Everyone who is familiar with Van Gogh’s art will recognize the images on the walls–irises, sunflowers, windmills, an absinthe drinker, stars in the sky–as they morph seamlessly from one scene to the next. It was hard to stop taking photos. And yet, the photos capture mere transient moments in the exhibit because the images are constantly moving. (We also took some short videos, but even those are only an approximation of the actual experience.)

Immersive Van Gogh is an elaborate production. It was designed and conceived by Massimiliano Siccardi, with soundtrack by Luca Longobardi, who both pioneered immersive digital art experiences in France. The show has been seen in Paris, Toronto, and has been or will be shown in twenty American cities. (Click on the Choose Your City button on the website to find out when it will be near you.)

In the room just outside the exhibit, a short summary of Van Gogh’s life is presented–The Seasons of Vincent Van Gogh: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall–with critical facts and dates (born 1853, died 1890.) There is also a sculpture created from the hundreds of letters that Van Gogh wrote. When you leave the show, you exit through the gift shop, where you can purchase all sorts of Van Gogh themed items including books about his life. But the main draw is the exhibit itself, unlike any other art show I’ve ever attended.

Immersive Van Gogh is a good Covid outing--everyone wears masks and keeps their social distance. Tickets are for timed entry, limiting the number of people inside at one time. Our tickets were for 10:00 on a Sunday morning. We did not have to stand in line to get in, but when we came out, there was a long line of people waiting. There are different levels of tickets. Ours included seat cushions (especially useful for sitting on the floor) and when we exited, we exchanged our cushions for a free poster of Van Gogh to take home. 

Before you enter the exhibit, you can take a selfie in front of this enlarged portrait of Vincent Van Gogh.