One of the perks of living in this area is the closeness to New York City. It’s a benefit used by many at the holiday season. Whether it be shopping, seeing the Rockettes at Radio City – followed by a visit to the gorgeously decorated Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center - a day in New York City is something to look forward to.
Personally, I enjoy the various entertainment and cultural opportunities. Things like theater and museums are among my favorite things to visit in New York. But, of course, new experiences are always welcome.
This year the hot new thing is the immersive Van Gogh exhibit. The complete title is “Immersive Van Gogh: ‘Starry Night Celebration’”. It opened in New York this summer and sold over four million tickets. It has a posted closing date of January 2, 2022.
The exhibit is also offered in about 20 cities throughout the country. There are reports that Albany is being considered as a site, possibly in 2022.
But for now, New York City is your best bet. The exhibit at Pier 36 (229 South Street) is a short subway ride from midtown, followed by a short walk to the East River. Should you want to make a day of it, not far away is the Southside Seaport, Wall Street and the Twin Towers Memorial.
I recently made my first holiday trip to New York City since 2019. The City was not as crowded as in past years, but it was just before the Thanksgiving-Christmas tourist crowd would arrive.
If you don’t mind feeling as if you are going through perpetual TSA-like airport checkpoints this is probably a good year to get tickets to popular shows and reservations at special restaurants. You need proof of vaccination to get into everything and face masks are mandatory. It’s often inconvenient, but worth the safety.
The Van Gogh Immersive insists on such COVID protocol. However, for the cautious be aware you are in a huge waterfront space – 75,000 square feet -with hundreds of strangers walking around. And it’s not cheap.
Is it worth it? If you go for a thrilling visual experience, Immersive Van Gogh delivers. Images of Van Gogh’s most popular works are shown on the walls and floors, doing as the title promises you – immersing you in some of the world’s most beloved paintings.
There are three rooms, each with images projected 360-degrees on the walls, ceilings and floors surrounding you in the gorgeous colors highlighting the technique of the painter. The images are the same in all spaces. There is a sound track playing as well, which heightens the mood of the experience. The first two rooms are relatively small, but the third is huge and probably the best for the experience.
The digital images are not simply reproductions of the paintings. They appear to be in motion so you not only see the brush strokes, you almost feel them. As one reproduction appears it sometimes seems it is being pushed aside for another. It’s hard not to make a connection to the frenzy in the artist’s mind as he worked on one painting while imagining his next. It can almost feel as if you are inside the artist’s mind. It’s not quite a 1960s psychedelic happening, but close to it.
The choice of paintings is comfortable in their familiarity. There is, of course, “Starry Night,” “Sunflowers”, “The Potato Eaters”, “Irises” and many, many more. As they appear you could hear the recognition of the crowd as they whispered the title of each new image as it appeared.
Even though the huge images permit you to see some painting in greater detail and the scale permits you to explore new insights in familiar work – to me, this is not an art show. It’s best to come knowing Van Gogh’s work and life. Don’t expect insights. This is a visual extravaganza, not an exploration of the artistic process.
Tickets are sold by reservation, with entry permitted at hour intervals. The show takes about 35 minutes, but essentially you can stay as long as you want. We lingered for perhaps an hour . But soon we were saturated. This might be a good time to point out that the only seating is on a limited number of benches. You either stand, walk the space or sit on the floor. This is not about comfort. But it is a super high-tech selfie photo op.
I have probably spent more than 35 minutes in front of Van Gogh “Starry Night” at the Museum of Modern Art, and other Van Gogh’s at MoMA or the Met. I spent a full day at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and I still treasure the 1985 Van Gogh exhibit that featured 50 of his works at the Clarke Art Institute in Williamstown.
My point is 35 minutes of giant images, no matter how fascinating, is not a replacement for being in the presence of the real thing. One major reason is there is no time to dwell on a single image or to probe as to why Van Gogh’s vision is so mysteriously beautiful. The immersive experience is fast, furious and intellectually empty.
That said, I’m glad I got to the Immersive Van Gogh. But given a choice between standing in front of an authentic work lost in my thoughts and communicating one on one with genius as compared to being in a dark room with hundreds of strangers, I would choose the solitary experience.
For information about the Immersive Van Gogh experience go to vangoghnyc.com
