REVIEW: Immerse yourself in van Gogh’s artistry in Davenport

Exhibition soars through melting images, music and words

Jun. 8, 2023 6:00 am

DAVENPORT — Stepping into van Gogh's world opens a portal to the past that swirls into the future.

You have until July 20 to explore the wonder of "Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience," in the RiverCenter's Great Hall. It's the coolest thing you’ll see all summer.

What: "Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience"

Where: RiverCenter's Great Hall, 136 E. Third St., Davenport

When: Through July 20, 2023; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Thursday; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday; timed entries every 15 minutes, with last entry one hour before closing time each day

Tickets: $29 to $83.99 VIP for ages 16 and up; $19.99 and up for ages 5 to 15; vangoghquadcities.com/tickets/#/

Details: vangoghquadcities.com/

Read more about it: thegazette.com/museums-galleries/step-inside-vincent-van-goghs-art-in-davenport-exhibition/

However, getting there was a bit tricky late last week, with road closures from recent flooding and detours complicated by all the one-way streets. RiverCenter appears to be two buildings, bisected by Third Street. I ended up parking along Fourth Street and walking through RiverCenter, crossing the street, and into the half housing the huge exhibit.

A flowing sunflower sculpture heralds your arrival.

The entire experience takes about an hour, so don't rush through the first room, dubbed Introduction Hall. This captures the spirit of van Gogh, told in his own words through letters to his brother and others, as well as his diary entries, moments in time, and historical perspectives.

The words are superimposed over images from van Gogh's paintings, lined up in rows creating a serpentine experience for viewers to pause and reflect upon the wisdom of the 19th century Dutch artist's musings.

Known for his inner anguish, this is my favorite excerpt: " … I always think that what we need is sunshine and fine weather and blue air as the most dependable remedy." To Theo van Gogh, Arles, 29 September 1888.

Empty picture frames hang in various shapes and heights between the rows, beckoning visitors to pose for photos. On June 1, everyone moved silently through the room.

Eventually, we all came to the framed portal leading to the Immersion Room. I felt like Dorothy stepping into Oz. I don't even remember if the soundtrack was playing in the Introduction Hall, but one of my favorite pieces was playing in the Immersive Room: Don McLean's haunting "Vincent," released in February 1972.

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"Starry, starry night/Paint your palette blue and gray/Look out on a summer's day/With eyes that know the darkness in my soul."

And the floor was swirling. I stopped dead in my tracks, fearing vertigo might set in. I made a beeline for the empty bench across the room, and sat there for the next 35 glorious minutes until "Vincent" cycled back in the soundtrack.

Thankfully, the floor images only swirled a few times.

Exhibit entries are timed, so the rooms will never be filled with people. You really need the wide-open space to breathe in the changing vistas on the walls, floor and two upright panels.

More than 300 images shine down from 36 projectors mounted on the ceiling. The pictures flow seamlessly between paintings pastel, pastoral, and passionate. Some are black and white sketches. Some are panels showing his simple signature, Vincent. (It's said he didn't use his last name, fearing people wouldn't pronounce it properly.)

Through the digital magic of Montreal's Normal Studio, every nuance is fascinating, but the most engaging images fill the walls from the floor upward, like watching an artist paint from the bottom to the top of a canvas.

"These experiences are not meant to replace a museum experience. There's nothing like an original," Fanny Curtat of Montreal, the art historian who helped develop the project, told The Gazette in a May 16 interview. "It's really about enhancing. It's about bringing more, and it's about bringing it differently, to allow more people in, and to really develop all different kinds of experiences that we can have with a particular type of art."

A timed loop allows viewers to follow the evolution of van Gogh's artistry, from scenes reminiscent of the Dutch Masters to portraiture, Impressionistic flowers and his movement toward Expressionism, with wide brush strokes and thick swaths of oil paint.

"The Starry Night" is the highlight, of course, but so is "Cafe Terrace at Night," which melts into "The Starry Night," followed closely by "Starry Night Over the Rhone." Thanks to special effects in the latter image, the light over the water shimmers, as if viewers are gazing from a waterfront cafe on a warm, inky night.

Special effects also create one of the most fascinating, yet creepy, experiences. If you stare closely at any of the myriad self-portraits projected simultaneously, the eyes blink. My friend spotted it before I did, but once she pointed it out, I saw blinking eyes all around the room.

One of the most beautiful effects was the "painting" of "Almond Blossoms." After all the branches were filled with flowers, they began to blow in the breeze, showering blossoms all over the walls and floors.

Rippling, swirling, melting, undulating, blinking.

I didn't want to leave when the loop returned to my starting point, so I just sat there for a bit, bathed in the beauty of this timeless artistry, augmented by a soundtrack perfectly mirroring the changing images, from soft and lilting to frenzied strings and the sweet voice of a young child speaking French.

And as we left, we were treated to the 8-minute virtual reality experience, which did make me feel a little woozy. Seated in a revolving chair, viewers peer up and down, side to side through a bucolic farm scene that changes with the seasons, while a narrator speaks van Gogh's words.

The final room is the gift shop, where guests can spend a little or a lot to take home tangible memories of a day they’ll not soon forget.

Comments: (319) 368-8508; [email protected]