Van Gogh – closer than ever

Imagine you could attain an exquisite collage of an entire oeuvre, an instant overall picture of an artist’s lifetime work, a genuine taste of his imaginative power. It sounds almost like utopia but what if it was possible to dive into the creative world of an artist and explore its finest details during an unprecedented encounter.

Even if you belong to those who have had enough of the constant reinforced contact and symbiosis with the technological gadgets of our ultra-modern world, you would still find the solitary strolling along the monotonous corridors of a museum a bit obsolete, once you set foot in Maag Halle in Zurich, where Van Gogh Alive, the world’s most visited multimedia exhibition is on a roll https://vangogh-alive.ch/en/.

Resorting to  some of the latest technological platforms and modern frameworks, Van Gogh’s prolific oeuvre is shown in all its facets, in all its depth and complexity. The incredible heritage of more than 2000 artworks, created over a period of ten years is a perfect match for this concept of multimedia artistry. Despite being one of the most productive artists of his time, apparently Van Gogh sold one single painting during his lifetime. The Red Vineyards at Arles was bought by Anna Boch, an impressionist painter. She paid 400 francs, which would be the equivalent of 1900 US dollars today.

Fragments from Van Gogh’s letters play an essential role in the multimedia exposition as they are key elements in depicting Van Gogh’s artistic creed, beliefs and his inner struggles. Since the Dutch artist was drawn to writing, the 902 letters paint an extremely vivid and detailed  picture of his life. From the 902 surviving letters, 650 were written by Vincent to his brother, Theo. There are also letters written to artists like Paul Gaugain or Emile Bernard. It is Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, Theo’s wife whom posterity owes gratitude for attracting public attention to the letters. After her husband’s death in 1891, she spent many years compiling the letters, which were first published in 1914.

Art within art, by means of an unprecedented collage of light effects, eclectic music and a genuine immersion in the depths of the artistic vision. Van Gogh Alive sheds a most comprehensible and exhaustive light on the artist, whose life has been a long row of inner battles, an excruciating  fight with the demons of a most tormented soul, the extent of which was mirrored in his self-mutilation, a reiteration of the unbearable agony of the soul, that culminated in the final tragic self-destructive scene, suicide.

 

 

• Art
• artist
• exhibition
• Grandes Exhibitions
• Maag Halle
• multimedia show
• painter
• painting
• Vincent Van Gogh