We visited Immersive Van Gogh (www.immersivevangogh.com) a few days ago and I did not expect how moving and amazing it was. I've visited the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam over the years, and was appropriately in awe each and every time, but the last time was 2005 or so, and I lacked the maturity, introspection and frankly life experience (specifically traumatic experiences) to fully appreciate the genius of the man past the easy joys of sunflowers and starry nights.
What struck me most as I "hung out" with Vincent this time were the self-portraits and what I saw in them: the desperate internal scrutiny, the raw of an unquiet mind, the push / pull between portraying the true contents in your head vs the fear of being crazy / going crazy / having people around you think you are crazy. The constant searching, searching, searching for meaning with what feels like a very modern, contemporary sense of "self" and identity:
This is art that asks "Who am I?" in the most subtle, elegant, and heartbreaking way possible:
I think Vincent would understand the modern world better than we, living in the modern world, understand it.
Of course, there were sunflowers:
... and starry nights.
What would a Van Gogh exhibit be without those? :)
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