Van Gogh

 Most of my time in West Virginia was spent totally enjoying playing with Jackson.  I love being that fun little boy's grandma!  

Mary and I did slip away one night to go down to Washington DC to immerse ourselves in Van Gogh.  

Chances are you have seen or heard about the 'Immersive Van Gogh Experiences'.  The highlight is when images or videos of his works are projected onto walls, ceilings and floors in a large room. 

But first we learned more about Vincent and his early life and paintings in a more traditional gallery.

Traditional except that his works were animated.

This was one of my favorites.

His  bedroom in Arles, depicted in one of his famous paintings, was recreated.  Mary and I have good memories of our trip to Arles, France when we were living in Barcelona. 

Next we went into a large gym sized room and were totally immersed with his art all around us.

Starry night

Self portraits

You can see that the art works are animated and change from one painting to another.  Doors and windows open, stars shine, lights come on and off.  Appropriate music plays.  It was quite mesmerizing. Some people just stretch out on the floor but we were thankful for the lounge chairs. 

The last part of the evening was a walk through the French countryside that Van Gogh painted so often. 

The 'walk' was accomplished by putting on virtual reality headsets.  I loved the feeling of walking around and looking behind and from side to side. Birds were singing!  Clouds moving across the sky!  Wheat blowing in the breeze!  A storm on the horizon! Thankfully just as my motion sickness was starting to affect me, I arrived at the end of the walk. 

Here are a few of his paintings that I 'walked' through.

I am so glad that Mary heard about this and got us tickets.  It has been something I've wanted to do for a long time.  Thanks daughter!