A review of Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience
The saying goes that art imitates life. When visiting Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience, however, the roles are reversed. Lidia Cockerell discusses the VR exhibition and how digitalisation can shed new light on our understanding of art.
Vincent Van Gogh once said that “paintings have a life of their own that originates in the painter’s soul”. It was only when I was physically immersed within his art that I got real insight into the soul that created it. The 360-degree digital projections of East London’s exhibition, Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience, brought both artist and art to life.
I can be quite the cynic when it comes to technology; I am the type of person who worries that the spirit of a painting can be lost when it is made digital, but boy was I proven wrong. I am not exaggerating when I say that I was completely overwhelmed when walking through the fields of the Farmhouse in Provence or sat by the river watching the Starry Night Over the Rhône. I almost fell off my chair reaching out to touch the flowers and water that surrounded me. Amid Covid-19 travel restrictions, a blissful stroll through the streets of Paris had never felt more heavenly and liberating (although I must say, there was an abrupt shock when I took off my VR set and found myself sat on a chair in Shoreditch).
I was completely overwhelmed when walking through the fields of the Farmhouse in Provence or sat by the river watching the Starry Night Over the Rhône
The next section of the exhibition prolonged our escapism as we lay back on deck chairs, cocooned by projections of Van Gogh’s paintings, adorned by the soundscape and light show that accompanied. There was a sense of complete tranquillity as we sat, captivated within the atmosphere of these paintings, staring at the ceiling, gazing at A Starry Night. As the projections transitioned from one painting to the next, we were taken on a journey through the artist’s troubled yet colourful life (or perhaps not so colourful because Van Gogh was allegedly colour blind).
Despite its simplicity, one of my favourite components of the experience was the 3D vase on which Van Gogh’s flower paintings were projected. As the images flowed from one to the next, I sat utterly mesmerised by the vivacity of art that would typically be regarded as “still life”. Van Gogh’s popularity undoubtedly stems from his ability to make mundane objects and their surroundings full of life and spirit.
