Van Gogh on world tour

Walking through Van Gogh’s Almond Blossom in China

One of the most interesting phenomena in the art world over the past year has been the growth in touring exhibitions offering visitors the experience of walking through spaces filled with huge projections of paintings by Vincent van Gogh and pre-recorded music. Adopting a global business model, their organisers have somehow weathered the closures and delays COVID restrictions have caused in some locations by staying open in others. According to Selene San Felice of Axios, there are five competing Van Gogh exhibits travelling the U.S. right now, some of them even using smell to create "immersive" experiences. Prices range between $25-100, those at the lower end competing closely with tickets for exhibitions at major museums. Van Gogh Alive, coming to the UK this autumn, has been presented in over 50 countries so far. The Immersive Van Gogh Experience, also coming to London, is already sold out until January. And now the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has got in on the act creating the Official Meet Vincent Van Gogh Experience, now on in Lisbon. All this sounds fun, but can any of it beat seeing the actual paintings? Contemporary art experiences, like the soon-to-launch Superblue in Miami, instead feature new site specific artworks conceived for digital dislay by artists such as James Turrell. Arguably, a more interesting way of using digital technology in exhibitions of pre-20th century art is using digital projections of technical studies alongside the artworks, such as in the Louvre’s fabulous Leonardo da Vinci exhibition in late 2019/early 2020. The Louvre is now developing Mona Lisa: Beyond the Glass, a VR experience designed to “bring Mona Lisa to life” as well as to present the story of the painting’s production and the technical evidence showing how Leonardo created it. Watch this space for Athena’s own immersive project due to launch later in 2021!