Van Gogh Comes to Life in ‘Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience’

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Photo via Van Gogh Milwaukee

We look at a painting hanging on a wall. We imagine the setting “coming to life” in our minds; people moving on a street, birds flying above, water flowing below. 

But in “Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience” we literally step into the art as it moves around us, iconic images of sun, moon, stars instantly recognizable by one of the world’s most famous artists—Vincent Van Gogh. 

Currently showing at the Wisconsin Center in downtown Milwaukee, “Beyond Van Gogh” features more than 300 of the artist’s works projected on walls and columns, remarkable in that many who owned a Van Gogh in the 19th century initially considered his work worthless. Van Gogh’s own mother reportedly threw out crates of her son’s plantings. And Van Gogh only sold one painting in his lifetime, seven months before his death in 1890 at the age of 37. The price?  400 francs. Or in today’s market: $437.

But leave it to time and technology to bring the artist’s work to life—and in such a creative and innovative way. A narrator highlights key moments from the Impressionist’s life and works while music plays and visitors take in the 21st century technology of such a feat. And what a feat it is!  

The Man and his Life

“I can’t ... do without something greater than myself, which is my life, the power to create,” Van Gogh wrote to his younger brother, Theo who would become an art dealer and the primary champion of his brother’s art. And in the course of this 60-minute “experience,” visitors wind their way through three rooms which help to explain the man and his art, his life.

The first room features quotes and information about the artist, juxtaposed with empty picture frames hanging in the shadows, foreshadowing of what follows in the second room, a visual segue that begins to prepare visitors of what’s to come. Colors and brushstrokes move across dark walls, the floor and wash over those who choose to stand in the images. 

Spend enough time there and you’ll catch the artist’s self-portrait fading in and out periodically. Reddish beard, hair pulled back revealing a wide expanse of forehead. But it’s the intense gaze of his eyes that draw you in. The swirling, multicolored lights and action creates its own dizzying effect and is a well-placed transition to prepare for the third room. 

Stepping into the complete “immersion” of Van Gogh’s art 360 degrees is an extraordinary moment, seeing a gigantic room with groups of people and familiar images merging, moving, sliding in and out of view. There’s his most famous work, Starry Night, gazing down on us as opposed to the other way around. 

Multiple Portraits

Van Gogh considered portraits to be the highest form of art. And this production honors that with many multiple images of the artist looking back at us from all angles. It’s as intense as Van Gogh’s personality was and it’s hard to look away, seeing all the sides of the man, literally and figuratively. 

Yet it’s fascinating to see his birds “fly,” his clouds “move across a blue sky, his bright yellow sun shimmering on a hot afternoon, his lights rippling on the waters at dusk. Considering what an isolated figure Van Gogh was his entire life, the crowds prove otherwise, including a small child running up to a wall, pointing to a moving scene, delighted in her discovery, looking back to share the image—and the moment.

“If one truly loves nature, one finds beauty everywhere,” Van Gogh once wrote. That “everywhere” of beauty now surrounds us—completely and literally—in “Exploring Van Gogh.” We immerse ourselves in his life, his works, and above all else, Van Gogh’s enduring power to create art that speaks to all our senses. 

“Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience: runs through September 19 at the Wisconsin Center, 3rd Floor, 400 W. Wisconsin Ave.  For more information, visit: www.VanGoghMilwaukee.com or email: hello@vangoghmilwaukee.com