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We've been banging on about 'Van Gogh: The Immersive Show" for what feels like forever. With good reason! The retina-battering, virtual-reality post-Impressionist extravaganza that's taken up residence at 106 Commercial Street has all the qualities needed to make it a post-pandemic smash. Why not utterly lose yourself in a load of lush brush-strokes for a few hours? Sounds nice.
How does it work though? Is it projections? Are head-sets involved? Do they play depressive music to recreate the feeling of being inside the famously morose artist's head? We went along and found out.
As you can see from the photos, Van Gogh's paintings are beamed hyper-sharp all over the floors and walls, using dozens of cutting-edge projectors. The all-encompassing sight of iconic works like Starry Night and Wheatfield with Crows (complete with flying birds, natch) knock a lot of socks off (particularly when augmented and combined with VR headsets).
The exhibition is in three parts, each one dedicated to a different section of the Dutch artist's life.
Be forewarned: the VR part of the exhibition (which takes you on a trip through eight Van Gogh paintings) is included in the price of VIP tickets, but anyone with a standard ticket will need to stump up a bit extra to experience the head-set bit of the exhibition.
Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience’, 106 Commercial St, E1 6LZ, Jul 29-Feb 2022. Tickets from £19.90 (adult), available here.
The best free art you can see right now in London
Immersive theatre you can lose yourself in