Immersive Van Gogh, September 10, 2021

In March we saw an advertisement for a program entitled “Immersive Van Gogh.”  We decided it would be a great opportunity to get out of the house and enjoy a program about an artist we truly enjoy.  The location for the program was a carefully kept secret, only to be disclosed in the future.  Our tickets were for 10:00 AM, September 10, 2021.  As that date approached we searched anxiously to see where the program would be held.  Finally, we discovered that it would be at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby, just over the boundary line from Philadelphia.

A line began to form at around 9:30 AM. Here is a photo of JoAnn and our friends, Jimmy and Barbara, as we queued to enter the theater.

The program is essentially in two parts: the first, as we began our trip through Van Gogh’s existence, was composed of panels describing his life in words and pictures, both stills and digitals. Here are a number of photos of this portion of the exhibit.

Give the video, which greets you as you enter, a chance and watch as the vase full of flowers transforms. When you are done watching close out by pressing the X in the upper left corner of the video.

Here is a still of the vase in a beautiful rainbow of color. It’s amazing to think that Van Gogh may have suffered from color deficiency, perhaps a form of color blindness, and yet painted with the most vibrant palette.

The exhibit, notwithstanding the early hour, was teeming with people, all gazing at Vincent’s work and the panels describing his life.

Each room dealt with different phases of his life.

He painted prolifically while a patient at the asylum. This painting of his room, in which he also paints miniatures of other paintings, is interesting.

Van Gogh became interested in Japanese art and in 1887 painted “The Courtesan.” The exhibit reproduced it in a 3 dimensional work. I did my best to capture it, although the manner in which it was lit presented some difficulty. I hope you like it.

I also took the liberty of reproducing the it from a Wikipedia article so that you can see the original, which resides in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

The second part of the program is the “immersive” portion. It begins when you enter a large room with digital screens encompassing all of the walls. Even the floor serves as a screen from time to time. The room is bathed in blue light and the projected videos are outstanding. The entire presentation, which is a music filled 40 minute loop, is mesmerizing. Although I took some still photos, I broke with- tradition and also took a number of videos. I am including some of the videos for your enjoyment. Let’s start with a couple of stills, beginning with “Starry, Starry Night.” Let me know what you think.

How about crows and sunflowers.

And now, three videos for your enjoyment. We’ll start with the Japanese period.

The next is a series of self portraits.

And the last video is during the asylum period.

As we left the blue room, we passed an artist gallery where many were occupied reproducing their own versions of Van Gogh’s work.

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and before we knew it Jimmy was on his way, with us and Barbara in his car, to lunch.

I hope you enjoy my work and, if you have the chance, the Immersive Van Gogh is a lot of fun. Don’t miss it. For more information on Van Gogh check out the Wikipedia article.