The smile did not leave my face for the 20 minutes of this glorious virtual reality experience that takes you into Van Gogh’s world and those stunning paintings.
The Monsieur Vincent show is a UK-debut, bringing what I can say without any reservation is one of the most enjoyable experiences I have at Wales Millennium Centre for many a year.
Taking place in the venue’s Weston Studio, from the moment the helpful and genuinely enthusiastic team help you with your headset (slightly resembling a Star Wars Stormtrooper) you start interacting with the life of the troubled artist.
It is narrated by one of his models from during the time when he moved to Provence in search of the allusive special yellow colour that appears in so many of his masterpieces. The model was Marguerite, the daughter of his physician Dr Gachet in Auvers-sur-Oise , where ultimately Van Gogh committed suicide in 1890.
It is in Dr. Gachet’s home where Marguerite’s story begins. Colour is essential to the experience, as it was of course to Van Gogh’s work, so we climb onto his palette, thick with the oils that he used to capture Provence, the cafés along the Rhône River, and most famously the night sky.
Without giving too much away you use your hands to interact with not only the building but colours and, being Vincent Van Gogh, even stars. Much of the music is strangely mainly from Wagner operas which appealed greatly to me, but I am not sure how they fitted with the life of the great Dutch artist, but I doubt many people will even notice.
Apparently I interacted a lot, reaching out for things that responded to touch (and other times when they did not) and swivelled around in my chair to make sure I did not miss anything that had been created by the directors by Agnès Molia & Gordon with Rebecca Marder.
The Van Gogh theme has been adopted by Armadillo, the new shop in WMC with window display, a starry night artwork hangs in the lobby and there is an exhibition of community pictures.
The show by Immersive Experiences is running daily until 1st September at Weston Studio.
Tickets are £6 per person.
You will be exhilarated. Whether you are familiar with the Post-Impressionist painter, or not you will find the experience invigorating.
