Van Gogh Alive! – REVIEW

The Van Gogh Alive show is the rare beast that entertains and educates at the same time, with a bonus extra “Wow” factor.

One of last summer’s most popular events, Van Gogh Alive returns this year, housed in its dedicated pavilion with three additional rooms, including a replica of Van Gogh’s sparse bedroom.

Dubbed by its creators Grande Experiences as a “multi-sensory exhibition experience “ with its high definition projections, multiple screens linked to a driving classical music soundtrack, it certainly lives up to its publicity.

Over the duration of the show we see around 3,000 images covering Van Gogh’s short but productive ten year career in which he painted over 2,100 works, including 860 oils, that would change the course of art history forever.

We follow Van Gogh’s journeys looking for inspiration and his creative arch from a sketcher, through to his astonishing work completed in oils during a furious effort in the last two years of his life.

Early subjects would often be friends or labourers or the street where he lived as he explored styles away from the staid academicians of the day, and in a few short years would be producing works of breathtaking beauty that would change the art world forever.

We see details of how Van Gogh worked colour and form with more clarity and magnification than is impossible to experience behind a gallery barrier or even in the best produced art books.

The images come alive with moving backgrounds or crows flying across corn fields, and here the show’s designers have shown restraint in making sure that the work being explored remains the focus.

The show also explores Van Gogh’s fascination with the style and perspective of Japanese woodblock ukiyo-e prints that were popular in Paris at the time.

Van Gogh would copy two Hiroshige prints that are shown side by side morphing into his own work, with the influence of Japanese art informing his art for the rest of his life. 

One stand out sequence is the transition of Starry Night from a static image to one that comes alive, with the image moving and enfolding the viewing rooms.

Van Gogh Alive is a welcome addition to Sydney’s summer experiences.

Until February 12

The Grand Pavilion, Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park

vangoghalive.com.au