Let’s Gogh: A review of Kansas Cities art exhibit, Immersive Van Gogh, at Starlight theatre

All I’ve heard my art-enthusiast grandmother talk about for weeks is the Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit located at Starlight Theatre. In fear of letting her down, I decided to go before it closes at the end of 2021 and add a new topic of conversation to the family dinner table.

The exhibit consists of five rooms: the lobby with a gift shop and cafe, an informational exhibit which holds a 3D rendition of his piece “Bedroom”, the main exhibit projecting Vincent Van Gogh’s work, the sunflower-filled room and the “Starry Night”-themed event space. 

After entering through the lobby, you see the stocking-stuffer-dreamland gift shop — mugs, shirts, keychains and more. The small cafe offered a variety of muffins, pastries and coffee. 

Next was the informational exhibit — a series of stagnant art with plaques explaining the history of Van Gogh’s most popular paintings. The most notable part of the room was the 3D version of Van Gogh’s 1888 piece, “Bedroom”, which featured a real bed that looked like it was made of thousands of oil paint strokes. I learned from reading the plaque that this painting was made as Van Gogh looked out of his window at an asylum in southern France, and admired it for almost an hour.

I wish they had a sign that said, “cool stuff that way” or “keep walking” because the highlight of this room was the fact I stood in the very spot where Pitbull performed earlier this fall — it was all I could talk about. But as we walked through the short black tunnel to the main room, my jaw dropped and I quickly shut up. 

My breath was taken away the second I entered the main exhibit. 90 million pixels, 500,000 cubic feet of projection and 60,600 frames of video surrounded me — I had no clue where to look first. There were about 20 huge floor-to-ceiling projections surrounding the room with moving pieces of Van Gogh’s art. Trains chugged along the walls, flowers spread through projections on the floor and the stars in Van Gogh’s most notable piece, “Starry Night”, swirled like a daydream overhead. 

It was clear this room was the showstopper. One starry-eyed lady I talked to said she’d been sitting on the floor in the corner for over an hour staring at the works of art, wanting to see all 56 minutes of the loop — I joined her to take it all in.

The exhibit was packed. Surrounding the large room built on the Starlight stage were at least 80 people all watching the paintings in awe. Most were sitting on the few benches or on the ground staring at the floor monitors that were often lit with more artwork.

As the train chugged along to the music and passed by me for the third time on the projections, I decided it was time to further explore. The sign reading “sunflowers” with a large left-pointing arrow drew me over. With the entrance hidden in the corner, I don’t think most people visited this room, but it turned out to be my favorite part. 

My jaw dropped yet again as I was transported to a field in southern France during golden hour, spanning hundreds of thousands of yards encasing solely sunflowers from floor to ceiling. A closer look revealed that the room is no bigger than a bedroom, but surrounding mirrors reflect the sunflowers, creating an illusion of being much bigger. Despite its simplicity, it truly immersed you into Van Gogh’s masterpiece.

I wish the exhibit featured more rooms where you could feel, see and be immersed in the art. While I was most excited for the large room, I was disappointed that only six of the 56-minute video featured “Starry Night”. Unlike the sunflower room, the projections did not reach you in the same way — a missed opportunity for what could’ve been a room full of spinning and dazzling stars.

The Van Gogh immersive experience was well worth the $35 student ticket. Even if you don’t appreciate art or know much about Van Gogh himself, the exhibit is an amazing experience for all ages. For a moment, the hills of southern France, intimidating self portraits and dazzling lilacs were flowing across the room, it felt like everyone there was silent for the same reason — to appreciate one of the leaders in historical art.