In January 2020, amazing Vincent Van Gogh video ads started popping up on Facebook. It immediately caught my attention- a French exhibit where Van Gogh’s work was being projected onto 2 story warehouse walls in an incredible larger than life experience called “Imagine Van Gogh.” It looked amazing! I called my husband, Al, over and exclaimed, “Look at this video!”
Al saw I was fascinated and decided he had to get me to the exhibit. Traveling to France was out of the question, but he did his homework. The exhibit was coming to North America, so for Christmas he got tickets for the soon to open exhibit in Montreal, Canada.
Now, anyone who knows me, knows that I am NOT a winter gal. Al wanted to do the “pack your bag” total surprise trip but knew he would just get “that look” if he told me I needed to bring lots of cold weather clothes. I give him credit. He worked hard to not have to tell me what he was up to. But I still gave him “the look” anyway. I knew he was up to something. Trying to get me to go north for a surprise winter vacation was a losing battle so he finally just told me: “I am taking you to Montreal in January to see Imagine Van Gogh.” I think I swore in amazement and then gave a deafening cheer as reality set in. The giant sized Van Gogh exhibit was coming to North America! And it was only 4 hours away from us by car! This was followed by, “Holy cow! Montreal in January is going to be FREEZING!!!” And I spent the rest of the evening shopping online for ridiculously warm and waterproof boots, jacket, long johns, ski gloves and scarf.
The Imagine Van Gogh exhibit was located at the Arsenal Contemporary Art Center. https://www.arsenalcontemporary.com/. While Imagine Van Gogh is the original traveling Van Gogh experience, there is an additional company now also exhibiting Van Gogh shows in the U.S. The second company is called the Van Gogh Exhibit: The Immersive Experience.
At Imagine Van Gogh Montreal, we entered a warehouse style building and started the experience in a small space of exhibit panels that explained who Vincent Van Gogh was, his life and career as a painter, and his impact on the world. There was also an explanation about how the exhibition came about. This set the tone before we walked into the main exhibit hall.
The main hall was hung with massive white sheets, 2 stories in height, around the perimeter of the huge room, and contained several movable panels in the middle of the room. Nothing can describe coming around the corner and into that space for the first time. The Van Gogh projections were on a continuous loop so there were no show times or obvious starts and stops. You literally just walked in. Splashed on all the walls around you, including the ceiling and even the floor were Van Gogh’s paintings. You literally felt like you were walking in and on his paintings. The most stunning part was seeing the detail of the paintings in such magnitude. You literally could see and sense the strokes of the brush and dimensions of texture in the paint. You could see the colors and the essence of the scene in a whole new light.
The room was otherwise minimized. There were only a handful of seats in the corners, disguised as natural rocks. People were free to stay as long as they wanted and wander freely. Once we stayed a while, we realized that the images told a subtle story, taking you through the evolution of Vincent Van Gogh’s life and career. Gentle music choreographed the art projections.
I have to say, the experience was magical. I can see the appeal of locals attending the exhibit numerous times for the sake of the experience and for relaxation. After we watched the projections several times, we then started people watching. It was fascinating to notice people’s reactions, from those originally arriving into the space to those who, like us, were hanging out for a while. Some people wandered around in awe. Others sat or laid down on the floor for new perspective. There were people doing yoga. Most people at some point reached out to touch the projection screens like the paint was truly right there still drying on the canvas.
And maybe the most fun of all was to watch a group of nursery school students who arrived hand-in-hand. After a few minutes of taking in the space, several of the children started dancing, thoroughly enjoying themselves. The kids actually looked blissful and totally caught up in the moment.
Imagine Van Gogh was an amazing experience. While that exhibit is not currently touring in the U.S. or Canada, you can catch it in France or you can see the competitive Van Gogh Exhibit: The Immersive Experience in several cities. This exhibit has some other interesting bells and whistles including a virtual reality experience and more seating. Each city’s exhibit is slightly different as it gets designed around each building that houses the display. If you happen upon the exhibit as you travel or are looking to plan an interesting trip, seeing one of the massive Van Gogh exhibits is a must!
To learn more about Imagine Van Gogh, click here.
To learn more about the Van Gogh Exhibit: The Immersive Experience, click here.
Read up on more of our adventures in Montreal here.