On Sunday, my family – along with my sister, went to the Van Gogh Immersive Exhibit. Vincent Van Gogh is my favorite artist. His paintings always evoked the strongest feelings in me – I like how he layered paint and how his moods were expressed in his paintings. He dealt with a lot of mental health issues and yes he eventually cut part of his ear in an episode but I think that’s why I love his work. His emotions are all there on his canvas and his letters.
I thought my kids would enjoy the experience because it’s like a moving art show instead of a canvas for them to stand there and look at. Here are some photos from our experience.
The first part of the Immersive event are these quotes from letters Vincent wrote to his brother Theo. I’m so happy he had Theo.
Since I was with my kids, they wanted to get to the main room…but first we walked through this room called the waterfall, I think. It’s where the images basically fall on a black backdrop and dark lighting.
And then we walked down a hallway…my daughter and sister went ahead of us, this was like a mini date day for the two of them. My daughter loves her Aunt and my sister adores her as equally…she has only two older boys, so my little girl…we share HAHA. 🥰
Walking with my son to the main room. ❤️
The main room is where the 35 minute “show” is held. There were some people standing around, some people sitting on the floor, a few elderly people were smart and brought folding chairs. We found a spot and took a seat – we didn’t see it from the beginning, not sure what part we came in because it plays on loop.
I’ve been real lucky to see actual Van Gogh paintings at the different museums I’ve visited over the years. During our European honeymoon we even got to visit the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, it was a dream come true for me. The only thing that seems out of my reach is seeing Starry Night in person! When I went to MoMA in NYC back in 2009, it was on loan to a museum in Paris. I was oh so sad…because it’s my favorite of his paintings.
This immersive experience with the music playing and the images moving was really amazing to me. I could have stayed there for hours just sitting there. I wish museums would have an immersive rooms like this, I’d probably stayed there awhile.
My daughter was definitely feeling the experience, she danced when the music played. She’s four and she told me she loves Starry Night too. ♥️ It’s the swirls around the stars and in the immersive experience it kept swirling and moving. My son enjoyed it but he got freaked out when the self portrait eyes blinked HAHA.
The tickets were pricey and I like I said I wish I could have stayed longer, but the kids would not have want to linger forever there. My daughter told me she wanted more rooms to visit. Yes, that would be nice too actually. My sister and I agreed it would have been amazing to have cafe chairs to sit on or even benches. And maybe a drink in hand, haha…both of us said we would have liked to just sit and linger and stare at the images with the music playing. It’s really beautiful.
I really should put her back in ballet…😅
I enjoyed it a lot and glad I could show my kids my favorite artist. My son learned a bit about how Van Gogh’s mental illness helped shaped his creations. The color of his work depicted his moods and maybe that’s why I love them so much – it makes me feel something – I always said I liked how much paint he put on the canvas, like it looks so heavy with paint, and I can just imagine him painting with passion. His letters to his brother are so honest about his despair and also that he still had hope…especially when he looked at the stars.
Ahh…the dreamer in me just vibes with him. It was worth going to the show just to watch my daughter dance to the music and images…it made my heart overflow with joy. 🥰
Thanks for reading! ~ Yolanda
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