Popular ‘Immersive Van Gogh’ exhibit opens in San Francisco (2024)

The storyline in the arts world over the last 12 months has been dominated by closures, cancelations, postponements and pivoting to online shows and performances, as safety COVID-19 safety precautions have made it necessary to shutter most in-person venues for extended periods.

Now, however, it’s time to flip the script, with some museums and outdoor performance venues reopening, or making plans to, amid news of vaccinations being administered and new COVID cases decreasing.

And into all of this steps Vincent van Gogh. Or at least some of his most famous paintings.

“Immersive Van Gogh,” a touring multimedia exhibition and global sensation, is set to open in San Francisco March 18. The show uses art, light, music, movement and, perhaps most importantly, imagination to illuminate the life and art of the great 19th-century post-impressionist painter.

The much-anticipated “Immersive Van Gogh,” which some see as the first major touring arts event to come to the Bay Area since the start of the pandemic, is making its West Coast premiere at San Francisco’s SVN West, at South Van Ness and Market Street. Strong ticket sales suggest Bay Area residents are eager to start viewing live art again, and have prompted organizers to extend the show, which is now set to stay in S.F. through Sept. 6.

“We are really excited to be able to bring one of the first things for people to do, in a safe way, during COVID,” says co-producer Corey Ross. “We have been at it now since July, when we opened in Toronto. Just the public reaction to being able to get out of the house and do something, in the way we do it with the social distancing and the masks and in a way that has people feeling safe, really has been very rewarding both for the public and to be a producer and seeing how the public is receiving something like this.”

The word “immersive” in the title underscores the fact that this is no typical exhibition, but rather a multi-sensory avenue to “step inside” such iconic van Gogh paintings as “Mangeurs de pommes de terre” (The Potato Eaters, 1885), “Nuit étoilée” (Starry Night, 1889), “Les Tournesols” (Sunflowers, 1888), and “La Chambre à coucher” (The Bedroom, 1889). Large-size projections of the artist’s 2,000-plus works will be shown throughout the historic venue, which served as the home of legendary concert promoter Bill Graham’s Fillmore West from 1968 to 1971. All told, the exhibition utilizes more than a half-million cubic-feet of projections.

The walk-through exhibition — which is related to an earlier, much-celebrated van Gogh show in Paris — opened in Toronto over the summer. It hit Chicago earlier this year, with plans to open in Los Angeles in May and New York in June. And it’s been a big hit, despite concerns regarding the pandemic, as the producers have worked out ways to make it a social-distancing-friendly experience as well as incorporate other safety procedures..

“We were really early in figuring out exactly how to do an event during COVID and to do it safely,” Ross says. “We take temperatures. Everyone wears masks. We’ve created social distancing circles that are projected right into the art. As part of floor projection, there are the circles that help guide people and keep them distant from each other.

“What happens is you come into the exhibit and you find your first circle. Then as the circle next to you empties out as people move through, you have the experience of moving through the space and everybody is safely distanced.”

The exhibition also utilizes touchless ticket-taking, timed entry and strict capacity limits that are in line with the City and County of San Francisco’s guidelines. There are also hand sanitizer stations, although some people may not end up even using them.

“You can come through our exhibit and there’s nothing you need to touch,” Ross says. “You don’t have to wear VR goggles or touch buttons or anything. You can come through our show with your hands in your pockets and stay socially distanced from everyone around you.”

The exhibition was designed by multi-talented artist Massimiliano Siccardi, who has has long worked in the visual arts realm.

“He has been creating massive installations in Europe for the last 30 years,” Ross says. “He is really the Steven Spielberg of art installations in Europe.”

Siccardi also co-created the earlier van Gogh exhibit in Paris, which Ross calls “a massive hit.”

“When we met with (Siccardi) and we said we’d like to become his producers, we asked, ‘What would you like to do?'” Ross says. “And he said he would like to take another take on van Gogh — quite different than what was in Paris. A little bit darker, a little bit edgier and a little bit more emotional than what we saw in Paris.”

It turned out to be an inspired idea, one that has registered with people in the midst of this coronavirus crisis.

“I think van Gogh — during this period of the pandemic — ends up being really an amazing choice,” Ross says. “Because van Gogh had this very difficult life. He was in isolation. He was depressed. He wasn’t getting done what he wanted to get done. And, ultimately, he was suicidal. A lot of those emotions — a lot of that frustration, depression and isolation — are things that everyone can relate to coming through the epidemic the way we have.

“But van Gogh’s art ultimately transcends the terrible times he had in his life. That transcendence of the art — and the fact that we are looking at it 130 years after van Gogh passed away and it still moves us and it’s still relevant — that’s cathartic during these times. So, with folks coming out of isolation — and this being one of the first things that they do coming out of that situation — really, there couldn’t be a more perfect artist for us to have chosen.”

‘IMMERSIVE VAN GOGH’

When: March 18-Sept. 6

Where: SVN West, Market Street and South Van Ness, San Francisco

Tickets: Timed entry tickets start at $39.99-$49.99 ($24.99 for children 16 or younger); www.vangoghsf.com.