On Saturday 5th June 2021 I went to the Van Gogh Alive immersive experience in Kensington Gardens, London. This is an exhibition where you learn about the life of Vincent Van Gogh whilst surrounded by his artwork projected onto huge screens, where they are animated or brought to life and where music and quotes from his letters are synchronised with the images and artwork.
When you first walk in you get a brief overview of his life in a short exhibition area before moving onto a real-life mock-up of his bedroom painting where you can have your picture taken.
You then move through to the main experience and are able to walk around a vast hall with the artwork surrounding you and being immersed in music. The film is split into different parts of his life and they are each introduced with some info before the artwork does the rest of the ‘talking’. The various quotes are inspiring or add additional info on Van Gogh’s life and viewpoint.
You are able to move around the space and experience the art from different angles, as well as sitting down and being low down with the art so it surrounds you more. There are also huge screens on the floor where artwork is projected. The images changes with the music which adds to the overall effect.
I found it quite emotional at times as the music synchronised with his art and the message the art was telling us about his life. It was an all-encompassing experience.
There is an additional room within this larger space that is full of sunflowers and the walls are mirrored, so it feels as if you are enveloped in sunflowers and that they stretch as far as the eye can a see. It was a simple device, but very effective.
The experience was just over an hour and as you emerge from the site you feel a deeper connection to Van Gogh and his artworks.
After a brief picnic in Hyde Park we then made our way to the National Gallery so we could spend some time exploring the art here.
There were a few pieces/artists I wanted to see in the National Gallery, one being Paolo Uccello – Battle of San Romano which was recommended to me in an interview I did with Geoffrey Harrison.
I also wanted to see some work by Leonardo Da Vinci, Rembrandt’s self-portrait, Carravaggio and some on the impressionist works. It was slightly surreal to have been surrounded by Van Gogh artwork just an hour or so previously and then to be less than a foot from the same artwork in the National Gallery later on that day. Almost as if you were in the presence of a celebrity.
I spent a lot of time in front of ‘Bathers at Asnieres’ by Georges Seurat and was surprised by the size of this artwork. Some of his other pieces were also fascinating for the pointillism effect I was able to observe and study up close.
Overall it was a lovely day out being immersed in art and to get out into a gallery again (after the Covid lockdowns). It was very inspiring to see some key pieces of art that I had admired in books and online and has given me a renewed impetus to try to carry on with my OCA coursework after the recent upheavals in my personal life.
References:
Sturley, A (2021), https://sturleyart.wordpress.com/2021/04/30/artist-interviews-geoffrey-harrison/ (accessed 07.06.21)
Sturley.art 