Vincent van Gogh virtual exhibit to remain in Sacramento until January
By LA RISSA VASQUEZ — city@theaggie.org
“Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience,” which is organized by Exhibition Hub Entertainment in association with ticket-sales-distributor Fever, announced ticket sale dates for the exhibit in June of this year. Farah Jad, Fever’s senior public relations and communications specialist, said that due to the exhibit’s popularity, ticket sale dates have been extended into next year.
“Due to popular demand, we are excited to announce that we will be extending ‘Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience’ until 2023 in the great city of Sacramento,” Jad said.
According to an educational case study produced by Panasonic Corporation of North America, the exhibit employs projection mapping technology generated by Lighthouse Immersive Inc. and hardware manufactured by Panasonic to emulate the feeling of being inside a painting.
Dr. Michael Yonan, a European art professor at UC Davis, explained Van Gogh’s art and legacy.
“Van Gogh is a Dutch painter who was active in France in the late 19th century and one of the most famous artists of all time,” Yonan said. “He is a post-Impressionist painter known for his vivid use of color and highly visible, dynamic brushwork. He is also known for his personal suffering and is the classic example of the ‘tortured artist’ stereotype. He only sold one painting during his lifetime but is now one of the most popular artists in history. His paintings sell for millions today.”
Traveling multimedia and virtually-immersive exhibits displaying Van Gogh’s work have become a popular and marketable experience, but a second Van Gogh exhibit occurring at the same time in Sacramento caused some confusion.
John Tellem, who works for “BEYOND Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience” public relations department, explained the different exhibits.
“There are at least seven different Van Gogh immersive experiences traveling the country and as many as three playing at the same time in some cities,” Tellem said. “We do our best to differentiate the Beyond brand from the other Van Gogh immersive experiences, and our customer service team works hard to help our ticket buyers with questions.”
The “BEYOND Van Gogh” exhibit’s stay in Sacramento concludes on Nov. 27, while “Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience” will run until January 2023. General admission ticket sales for adults start at $39.99 and $34.90 respectively. They are also both offering waitlists for their Monet immersive experiences in 2023.
According to Yonan, this type of art exhibit offers a different experience than traditional museums, but technology can never fully capture the experience of seeing these works of art in real life.
“The Van Gogh virtual experiences are not unique; similar shows have been mounted for other artists recently, including Caravaggio, Monet and Klimt,” Yonan said. “They’re fun, but we shouldn’t confuse them with experiencing the actual, real works of art in their original form. Nothing compares to that.”
Written by: La Rissa Vasquez — city@theaggie.org
