Van Gogh's back in town and better!

The renowned Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh is back in town, and this time around, the immersive experience lives up to its name. 

The Real Van Gogh Immersive Experience, currently on display at the Bharatiya Mall in Thanisandra, presents Van Gogh’s art in a setting that truly captivates you. Compared to the earlier version — ‘Van Gogh 360’, which visited Bengaluru in 2023 and failed to captivate the crowd due to pixelated projections and sagging screens — the revamped version by a Bengaluru-based company brings 70 of Van Gogh’s artworks to life with a 22,000-lumen projection system. 

Some of the paintings on display include ‘Starry Night’, ‘Almond Blossoms’, ‘Sunflowers’, ‘Wheatfield with Crows’, and ‘Irises’, accompanied by some of his lesser-known paintings from his Japanese series. The artworks have been animated by visual artists, and the intricately designed animations take parts of each painting and present them in a new light. 

When you walk into the Immersive Room, spread across 4,000 sq ft, everything falls into place — a sense of serenity takes over. When you come across a Van Gogh painting, you can’t miss the thick, swirling strokes. The huge screens make these textures come to life, and one can’t help but reach out to feel them. 

His works, from the gentle melancholy of ‘Starry Night’ to the radiant optimism of ‘Sunflowers’, evoke profound feelings of joy, sorrow, isolation, and hope. The music, a curated score by Mitch de Klein, adds to this experience, acting in complete unison with the emotions the art is meant to evoke. What makes Van Gogh timeless is his ability to translate psychological turmoil and beauty into a visual language that speaks directly to the heart. His art doesn’t just depict scenes — it vibrates with human feeling.

In the 2023 version, one of the things that took away from the awestruck reverie of the experience was the jarring ceiling, filled with projectors and lights. Thankfully, the newer rendition takes care of this problem. You barely even realise that there are projectors placed around the room. 

The actual immersive experience lasts for about 30 minutes. However, in addition to the Immersive Room, the experience includes the Education Room and the Infinity Room. The former is the only aspect of the experience that truly lets you down. 

The Education Room is meant to serve as an informative introduction, providing context and background to Van Gogh’s life and artistic journey. Being the first thing you experience when you enter, it’s meant to set the tone for the whole event. Unfortunately, it merely comes across as a waiting room. In comparison, the anteroom at the previous immersive Van Gogh rendition, with backlit displays of some of his works and biographical details, was far more captivating. 

However, as you walk further into the curated space, The Infinity Room, an expansive space with mirrors, endless fairy lights and swirling visuals with blue and yellow hues, makes up for the lacklustre entry. The room is whimsical, and accompanied by a sense of illusion, it makes it easy to lose track of time as you walk through thousands of dangling fairy lights. 

Additionally, there’s also a dessert cafe, complete with wooden benches, sunflowers, and a photo booth that recreates the artist’s ‘Bedroom in Arles’. 

If we’re further comparing the two renditions of the immersive experience, the one currently on display offers more at a cheaper price tag. While tickets for the previous one ranged between Rs 999 and Rs 1099, the revamped edition is priced at Rs 499 for children and Rs 899 for adults. While there’s no denying that nothing will ever compare to seeing an original Van Gogh, the immersive experience is in a league of its own. An eloquent, multi-sensory voyage through Van Gogh’s luminous masterpieces, it blends emotion, storytelling, and breathtaking visual immersion.

The exhibition is on till July 31.