It’s a go for van Gogh

Immersive experience sidelined by pandemic returning to Winnipeg

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Sunflowers will bloom early in Manitoba this summer. July 14 to be specific.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/05/2022 (1559 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Sunflowers will bloom early in Manitoba this summer. July 14 to be specific.

That’s the day Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience, opens at the RBC Convention Centre, a show that combines giant video projections of more than 300 of the Dutch master’s famous paintings, including his famous work Sunflowers.

Tickets went on sale Thursday at vangoghwinnipeg.com. Adult admissions are $29 plus fees; children can view the show for $23.

Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience surrounds visitors with works by the legendary Dutch painter. (Mike Sudoma / Winnipeg Free Press files)
Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience surrounds visitors with works by the legendary Dutch painter. (Mike Sudoma / Winnipeg Free Press files)

The cinematic exhibition, created by Montreal’s Normal Studio and its creative director, Mathieu St-Arnaud, and presented by Winnipeg’s Paquin Entertainment Group, has sold more than three million tickets during showings throughout Europe and North America.

A similar show by Normal Studios and Paquin Entertainment, Imagine Van Gogh, debuted at the convention centre in September 2020, but it was called to a halt about a month later owing to restrictions on public gatherings enacted by the province to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Vincent van Gogh created about 2,100 artworks during the second half of the 19th century, notably portraits, self-portraits, still lifes (including Sunflowers) and landscapes.

He’s also famous for a lifetime of mental-health struggles, which included at one point slicing off his left ear with a razor. He died by suicide in 1890 when he was just 37, and would never know the influence he would have on art nor any of wealth his paintings would eventually amass.

“Encompassing a refreshing new twist unlike art lovers have seen before, Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience gives a new appreciation of this tortured artist’s stunning work,” Justin Paquin, co-producer with Paquin Entertainment, says.

Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience surrounds visitors with works by the legendary Dutch painter. (Mike Sudoma / Winnipeg Free Press files)
Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience surrounds visitors with works by the legendary Dutch painter. (Mike Sudoma / Winnipeg Free Press files)

Alan.Small@winnipegfreepress.com

Twitter: @AlanDSmall

Alan Small

Alan Small
Reporter

Alan Small was a journalist at the Free Press for more than 22 years in a variety of roles, the last being a reporter in the Arts and Life section.

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