A huge multi-media spectacular devoted to one of the 19th century’s most famous and celebrated artists will soon be landing in Glasgow, offering newbies and aficionados alike an intimate look at his life, work and legacy – and in a way the artist himself could never have imagined.
Who’s the artist?
He is Vincent van Gogh of sunflowers fame, born in the Netherlands on March 30 1843 but best known for the works he completed after moving to Paris in 1886. The very definition of the tortured artist, he suffered from serious mental health problems and died on July 29 1890 as a result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound sustained two days earlier. The previous year, during a stay in an asylum in Provence, he had painted one of his most famous works – The Starry Night, now on view in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Van Gogh’s paintings of sunflowers began in Paris in 1887 and turned into a series of several similar studies. One was given to van Gogh’s fellow painter, Paul Gauguin – indeed Gauguin’s 1888 portrait, The Painter Of Sunflowers, shows a brown-suited and red-bearded van Gogh at work on a still-life.
What’s the show?
Titled Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience, it’s a touring spectacular which uses cutting-edge projection technology to almost put visitors inside the paintings and artworks. The high-definition imagery – the organisers promise a resolution of four trillion pixels – gives a close-up view of van Gogh’s famous brushwork, applied in thick, bold slabs in a style known as impasto.
What’s in it?
The show promises sight of 300 van Gogh artworks, though obviously these aren’t the real ones. The tour starts in the Introduction Hall, where visitors are presented with material such as some of the many letters van Gogh wrote to his brother, Theo. Then, in the grandly-titled Immersive Room, visitors are met with paintings “freed from their frames” where they can interact with the artworks themselves and be “enveloped in colourful flowers, cafés and stunning landscapes, shifting and swirling across the projection-swathed walls and floor.”
What else do they say?
“[Van Gogh’s] paintings are liberated from their two-dimensional realms and rendered into three-dimensional, fully immersive scenes that swirl and flow with colour and movement,” promise the organisers. “Visitors are taken on a journey through the artist’s world from darkness to light, enhanced by his own dreams, thoughts and words set to a stirring symphonic score.”
Where is it on?
The show, which covers 30,000 square feet of exhibition space, is one of several van Gogh-themed extravaganzas which tours around. To date, this one has appeared in cities across America and for its appearance in Glasgow it will be set up in the cavernous SEC Centre.
When is it on?
It opens on Thursday July 11 and runs daily from 10am until 8pm, closing on Sunday August 4. There are peak and off-peak tickets which begin at £15.30 and rise to £45.40. Entrance is free for children under three years of age.
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