Van Gogh Alive – the exhibition where I sat in Van Gogh’s bedroom

When I first saw adverts for Van Gogh Alive I though it sounded … well, a bit silly really. And what would be the point of going to seeing replicas of his works when I’ve seen many of the originals, including having been to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam numerous times?

Then I started to hear the reviews and realised there might be a bit more to this exhibition than I’d thought. Finally I was convinced and booked a ticket for just before Christmas.

Was it worth it?

I’m not going to hold out on you, I’m going to tell you right now …

I was completely blown away by just how amazing it was!

Even though I’d heard all those good reviews I hadn’t imagined it being anything like as good as it was.

It’s due to finish at Media City in Salford at the end of February, so if you’re local to me, you really need to get yourself down there this week. If you’re not local, don’t worry as it tours. Just keep an eye out for it and hopefully you’ll get the chance to see it for yourself sometime soon.

But let me tell you why it was so good and why you should really try to experience it for yourself.

I’d imagined walking through a series a rooms with each one having different images projected onto the walls. Instead it was one large space with a few partitions and the images were projected on a loop, constantly changing. Sometimes all the walls/partitions would have the same image, but mostly they had either different ones or different sections from the same painting. They were projected onto the floor as well and bits of texts, mainly quotes from Van Gogh, were projected between the images.

Sometimes the images were still, but often they had movement. The flowering cherry trees would lose their petals and they would drift gently down. A piece of fruit would appear in a bowl, then more pieces would appear until the bowl was full and the painting was complete.

The best were the starry night scenes. Standing surrounding by swirling stars in a night sky was completely mesmerising.

It wasn’t just images of Van Gogh’s paintings that were projected, but also images portraying his life and the places he’d lived. Sketches of a town in the south of France ran along the walls and a steam train chugged its way though them along with sound effects and rails projected onto the floor.

When images of Van Gogh’s paintings of crows in a field were projected the crows took flight as loud gunshots rang out. Until I read the information boards at the end of the exhibition I hadn’t realised how poignant this was. I’d completely forgotten that Van Gogh had ended his own life by walking out into a field of crows and shooting himself.

Music changed in time with the images changing and each piece seemed appropriate to the paintings. Interestingly, when I asked a steward about the music he said that the music we were hearing was specifically chosen for the British exhibitions and in other countries different music had been chosen.

Apparently the changing images should have been accompanied by appropriate smells as well. Fragrances of flowers, paint and turpentine should be piped out into the space in the way that bakeries can pipe out the smell of freshly baked goods to entice customers. We didn’t smell anything, which could have been down to wearing masks, but I don’t think it was actually working when we were there.

The full loop of the images lasts almost an hour. I spent nearly three hours just in this part of the exhibition. I came in towards the end of a loop, so when it restarted I took lots of video which you can see below. Then I watched it a second time and took lots of photos. The third time I just sat on a bench to one side, where I could see most of the walls without having to keep turning round, and just let myself get lost in it.

I still keep thinking back to it nearly two months later. It’s taken this long for me to even begin processing it and to be able to actually be able to write about it. Mesmerising, amazing, overwhelming, mind-blowing were just some of the words my friend and I overused that day.

To leave the exhibition, which we eventually had to do, the way leads through the sunflower room. This is a room filled with (fake) sunflowers. The walls and ceiling are all mirrored so the sunflowers are reflected into infinity.

The room was fairly crowded when we came to go through it and the steward held us back. When it cleared and we were allowed in we were really lucky to have it to ourselves for a while before anyone else came.

Next was a mock-up of Van Gogh’s bedroom. It looks exactly like his painting and as you can see from the pic below it’s quite hard to tell it’s real! You can see that it is real though because in the smaller pic on the right I’m sat on the chair by his bed. It really did feel like stepping into a painting and I’ll never be able to see this picture again without imagine myself walking into it and sitting myself down.

Finally there was an area with lots of information boards, a shop and a studio with easels set up with paper and pencils and a video playing to show you how to sketch Van Gogh’s bedroom. I did have a go, but I think a 3 year old would have produced a better copy than mine. I think I’ll stick to appreciating art rather than trying to create it!

Have you been to Van Gogh Alive yet? What did you think about it? Have I made you want to go? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Like this? Read these next:

• Moderna Museet, Stockholm
• Jock McFadyen at the Lowry
• The Sickert Exhibition at the Walker Gallery

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