Van Gogh Alive, an immersive, sensory experience that brings the eponymous artistโs extraordinary body of work to life, opened in Canberra to great fanfare on Friday 4 March.
Set inside the worldโs largest transportable exhibition building, dubbed The Grand Pavilion, it took organisers seven weeks to set it up atop the Federation Centenary Fountains on Parkes Place Lawns.
โWhat a location,โ Van Gogh Alive producer, Andrew Kay, told Canberra Daily, โthe fountain hasnโt been used for 40 years, and we have the cheek to put a building on top of it!โ
Taking such a prominent location meant it wasnโt a straightforward build: they encountered anti vaccine mandate protestors and had to remove 40 yearsโ worth of duck poo from the fountains.
โWeโve had to clean the entire site for the first time in decades, and then build.โ
Unlike a typical art exhibition, Van Gogh Alive starts โthe moment you walk toward the buildingโ.
The interiors – all designed by Australian theatrical designer Anna Cordingley โ whisk you out of Canberra and into another world where Van Goghโs beautiful post-impressionist paintings have been brought to life.
Rooms in the pavilion dedicated to Van Goghโs most recognisable masterpieces, Sunflowers and Starry Night, are sure to saturate many Canberra Instagram feeds during the exhibitionโs five-week stay.
โPeople walk in that door, look at the beautiful ceiling, and it starts from there,โ Kay said. โAnd a lot of people leave crying because itโs an emotional experience looking at his life.โ
High-definition projectors cast 3000 images telling the Dutch artistโs story, many animated with movement, onto 32 Imax-sized screens.
The images are synchronised to a popular classical music score, while an aroma evoking southern France permeates the space.
The 42-minute projection display tells Van Goghโs life story in chronological order, starting in his homeland, the Netherlands, where he painted primarily in black and white. From there we go to France, where he both discovered colour and suffered a host of mental health issues that had him admitted to an asylum โ where he painted Starry Night.
Throughout the show, excerpts from letters Van Gogh sent home are projected, detailing โthe torment of his lifeโ.
โVan Gogh is such an interesting guy, he really did die not knowing he was a success, so itโs a tragic story,โ Kay said.
Audiences get lost in ‘the big, broad brushstrokes’
For Van Gogh Alive host and occasional retail assistant, Amanda Muggleton, moving from the familiarity of the theatre to the unknown of a permanent exhibition space has been โheavenlyโ.
โFor the first month I did nothing but sob and cry, because I realised what a sheltered life Iโve led; Iโve either been in front of a camera or behind a proscenium arch.
โItโs like someoneโs given me a safety rope Iโve never had in the 45-50 years Iโve been acting.โ
Spending her time leading groups through the exhibition and working the merchandise stand on occasion, Muggleton has derived great joy from the โplethora of lifeโ she has encountered on the job.
โYou have everyone from intellectuals through to people who have never been to anything like this in their life, and theyโre the ones I love because theyโre so blown away by what they see in there.โ
Founder and CEO of Grande Experiences, Bruce Peterson, said the Van Gogh Alive experience is akin to โa walk through a cinematic productionโ.
โThey donโt have to understand who Vincent is, his genre, or anything about art history,โ he said. โThey just get lost in the big, broad, brush strokes, colour and music, and for kids it means their first [art exhibition] experience is a happy one, and I think thatโs really important.โ
Van Gogh Alive is on in Canberra at the Grand Pavilion at Parkes Place Lawns, National Triangle until 10 April; vangoghalive.com.au
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