why i hated VAN GOGH: THE IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE

Remember, there are at least 5 different companies running very similar exhibits with similar titles: - Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience - Imagine Van Gogh: The Immersive Exhibition - Immersive Van Gogh - Van Gogh Alive - Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience (the one featured in this video) Make sure to do your research properly and see which one you're looking at (learn from my mistakes)!! Most people who had better experiences went to a different exhibit than the one featured in this video. My opinions here are only about the one called "Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience" run by Exhibition Hub & Fever.

so you’re telling me you didn’t appreciate the $50 removable ear Van Gogh crochet doll they were selling at the gift shop on your way out? bc that’s what did it for me

"Vincent Van Gogh, one of the Dutch painters, could not sell a single painting in his whole life. Now only two hundred paintings have survived out of thousands that he painted, because nobody took care of them. He was simply distributing them to friends; nobody would purchase them. People were afraid even to hang his paintings in their sitting rooms because whoever would see them would think that they were crazy: what kind of painting are you hanging here? People were taking them — not to hurt him — thanking him, and throwing his paintings into their basements so nobody would see. Now each of his paintings is worth a million dollars. What happened in one hundred years? The man himself was forced into a mad asylum when he was only thirty-two. And he was forced because of his painting — he was not harmful, he was not violent, he was not doing anything to anybody. But anybody who looked at his paintings was absolutely certain that this man was mad and unreliable. He should be put in a madhouse. If he could paint these things, he might do anything….” For example, he always painted stars as spirals. Even other painters told him, “Stars are not spirals!” He said, “I also see the stars. I see that they are not spirals, but the moment I start painting them something in me says so strongly that they are spirals. The distance is so vast… that’s why your eyes cannot see exactly what their shape is. And the voice is so strong. I am simply unable to do anything else but what my inner being says to do.” And now physicists have discovered that stars are spirals. It has gone like a shock throughout the world of painters, that only one painter in the whole history of man had some inner contact and communication with the stars — and that was a man who was thought to be mad. And because he was thought to be mad, nobody was ready to give him any service. Every week, his brother used to give him enough money to last for seven days. And he was fasting three days in a week and eating four days — because that was the only way to purchase canvas and colors and brushes to paint. Painting was more important than life. He committed suicide at the age of thirty -three. Just after his release from the madhouse, he painted only one painting, which they had prevented him from painting in the madhouse. He wanted to paint the sun. It took him one year. He lost his eyes… the burning sun, the hot sun, and the whole day long he would be watching all the colors, from the morning till the evening, from the sunrise to the sunset. He wanted the painting to contain everything about the sun, the whole biography of the sun. Everybody who was sympathetic to him told him, “This is too much. Just studying it one day is enough; it is the same sun.” Van Gogh said, “You don’t know. It is never the same. You have never looked at it. I have never seen the same sunrise twice, never seen the same sunset again. And I want my painting to be a biography.” One year… the whole day watching the sun… He lost his eyes, but he painted. And when the painting was complete, he wrote a small letter to his brother: “I am not committing suicide out of any despair — because I am one of the most successful men in the world. I have done whatever I wanted to do in spite of the whole world condemning me. But this was my last wish, to paint the whole biography of the sun in one painting. It is completed today. I am immensely joyful, and now there is no need to live. I was living to paint; painting was my life, not breathing.” And he shot himself dead. You cannot categorize him with ordinary suicides. It is not a suicide — out of despair, out of sadness, out of failure — no. Out of immense success, out of total fulfillment, seeing that now, why unnecessarily go on living and waiting for death?… “I have done the work that I wanted to do.” Every creative artist has to understand this: the moment people start thinking about him that he is a little bit off center, that something is loose in his head, he should rejoice that he has crossed the boundary of the mundane and the mediocre. Now he has grown the wings which others don’t have."

Very similar situation in Boston. These “immersive experience” scam companies are now banking on other public domain artists like Frida and Banksy in the Boston area and showcasing lackluster displays of the artists’ catalogs in cheap rental spaces for like $30-$60 a pop. So shady!

I saw IVG in L.A. on Nov. 24, 2021. It was definitely not the same program you saw. I thoroughly enjoyed the program. I'm elderly and was offered o folding chair. I comfortably watched to program twice. I was fascinated by the moving sweeps of color and how the artist's individual strokes were lifted and manipulated. Some people in our party were a little disappointed, but they weren't bringing as much experience (2 exhibits in the U.S., 2 visits to the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam, various lectures on the artist and his work, viewing various individual works in other museums, lectures, etc.) to the event as I was. I was well prepared to see IVM. I enjoyed the music. L.A. IVM was easy to access by public transportation or personal vehicle. We were a large party, but once we got ourselves assembled and ready, entry took only about 15 minutes. I wasn't thrilled with all the kitsch in the gift shop, but I did purchase the book about how the exhibit was brought together. I would still like to learn more about the technical aspects of the production. Sorry that you had such a bummer experience.

We saw this in Boston today...same exhibit, horribly over sold ($49 per ticket plus $5 each for the VR experience). Graphics were 2005 level quality. I agree with all of your assessment! FEVER put this on in Boston. I've deleted their app and will never attend another FEVER Sponsored event. Cash grab is the right explanation. It was made even worse by employees complaining and yelling at us waiting for the main room. "If you take a floor seat you are not allowed to take a chair later". "You think this is bad, you should have seen yesterday, I'm doing the best I can" UGHHHHH we almost left before entering the main display. Great idea but zero quality control and poor execution.

I'm a huge Van Gogh fan, so I was excited to hear that this show was coming to Raleigh, NC. Even more excited that my daughter and myself got to go and experience this event. I thought it was amazing. I enjoyed everything about it.The art, the 3D replica of his room, the color your own art wall, the wall of sunflowers upon entering, the large reproductions of his artwork, etc. I learned a lot of new information about his life that I didn't know before. My favorite part was the VR experience. I do feel bad about your gift shop experience experience and the lack that they had. Our gift shop was was pretty pretty large and full of Van Gogh everything, which honestly surprised me. I'm sorry you had such a bad experience at your location.

Gotta say, I’m glad the one that came to my state was one of the other ones you showed at the beginning, because it was a much better experience than this seems. Much less actual museum type stuff, but the “immersive” part was more well done.

Thanks for the honest review! sounds about right to my suspicions. From Nashville, our dates got pushed back two months & were forced to reschedule because they are doing "construction" to better the experience. Deciding wether or not to reschedule or just cancel all together. Seems like they're just putting stuff together last minute city to city 👎🏾

Just experienced the exhibit in Arizona and we had a great time! I’m so sorry you had a bad experience, I definitely agree that it seems like this specific event was a cash grab! I would’ve been disappointed too.. hopefully another one comes to your area soon so you can experience it in a different way!

I went to the one in Seattle and it was really funny when my friend and I realized that not only did the voiceover explaining the everything as Vincent Van Gogh pronounce his name wrong in a extremely American accent, but they also had a giant sized version of one of his quotes at the front, where Vincent stated that he would rather be known by his first name than his last, because he knew people would have trouble pronouncing it. (The reason he signed his paintings with just ‘Vincent’). The quote was right underneath the sign that said “Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience”

We went in DC and really enjoyed it. My favorites were the giant bust of his head, and they projected all the self-portraits onto it. Some of them moved slightly like it was alive. It was really cool. That flower vase display was my second favorite! However, I agree about the beginning gallery being so disappointing. They really should have had pictures of the places, and could have had higher quality prints. As for the room, we loved it. There was lots of seating so you could really relax and soak it in. Our kids loved it. I was annoyed at first that they kept rolling on the floor, but then I noticed most kids 10 and under were rolling on the floor; I think it's just how they were enjoying it!

You missed the best part of the entire exhibit - the VR experience which was honestly one of the most breathtaking moments of my life

WoW! Your experience was totally awful for sure. It's a shame. Ours was fantastic, we loved every second of it. We saw the one in Pittsburgh. The gift shop at ours was huge & had something for everyone including clothes. I'm sorry yours was sooo bad.

Thanks for this review. The show is coming to Cincinnati in 6 months so advertising is just starting to show up on my news feeds. "How exciting!" I thought, navigating my way to the ticket sales, thinking about the 3 hour drive (one way) with husband and elderly mother in tow, 3 adult tickets, a hotel room, since with arthritis and various joint problems x 3 adults the drive plus the Van Gogh experience would be all we could do in one day, return trip would have to be the next day. Busily trying to work out logistics and financing I see this: "venue secret". Venue secret? WTF?!!!! Now I get it. They aren't going to choose and book a venue until they see the ticket sales! I mean, this is OHIO, folks - not NEW YORK, so why splash out for an expensive venue ahead of time? No thanks. From watching your review I can see how great the show could be, but only in the right space (designed FOR THE SHOW) and with state of the art technology - again, DESIGNED FOR THE SHOW. The idea is sound. Turning it into a cash cow? Poo poo heads.

This is quite interesting, because I have recently gone to a Van Gogh projection exhibit, in The Lume, in Melbourne Australia. Looking at this video after going to one was legitimately funny, lmao. The one I went to had so much well presented information on floating boards in a darkened room, and the main exhibit area with projectors was absolutely massive, with different shapes on the floor and a second level, AND A CAFE STYLED LIKE "Cafe terrace at night". It was truly incredible. (was priced at about 50 AUD btw lol) they even had a center circular room with images of what the example of the van Gogh piece was based off each time they showed one. it also looks like the projection in your showing is sub par, but that might be the camera. I honestly want to go again! So dissapointing that not all of these exhibits are like that though, hope they improve.

I've been to the Van Gogh Immersive Experience twice and I loved it! I had a great time! It felt very therapeutic to me. In the videos you showed form your experience, the show looks very different than the one I saw. They must've made some vast improvements.

Does anyone know the link to the original one like the good one

Just went to Immersive Van Gogh in Phx and it was amazing. The music along with the movement of the paintings was so calming and thought provoking. The end credits I found out Thom Yorke from Radiohead made one of the songs and along with the movement of the projections made for a pretty amazing combination.

We paid about $21.00 per ticket for 2 adults 1 and really enjoyed it. My 11 year old knew a lot about him already but was still enchanted by the show in many respects. Thanks for your take.