Quito, Oct. 15 (EFE).- The Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh, reference of post-impressionism, “has arrived” in the Ecuadorian capital with an immersive exhibition of more than 200 works, which “come to life” in a full show of feeling and emotion, in which his series Los Girasoles, The Starry Night and several self-portraits stand out.

The Imagine Van Gogh exhibition – which opened to the public this Saturday in Quito after crossing France, Canada, the United States and Argentina – was produced by Annabelle Mauger and Julien Baron, famous for their work immersive at the Images Cathedral, in Les Baux-de-Provence (France).

In the middle of a structure unprecedented in Ecuador, with screens about three stories high, the viewer can feel part of, or inside the works, finding themselves surrounded by immense wheat fields, unreal perspectives, or immense spirals. which roll up like waves on the sky in the famous work The Starry Night, among others.

The Arles bedroom and various self-portraits of the famous artist, accompanied by a moving soundtrack, are interspersed with other works born from a palette full of vibrant colors and contrasts, which seem to move thanks to the technology used in the exhibition, which will be open for a month in the Arena, of the Iñaquito Commercial Center (CCI).

For Gabriela Capelo, general producer of Imagine Van Gogh, the digital exhibition in total immersion is “art, feeling, emotion. It’s feeling alive.”

EXHIBITION: FREE AND MAGICAL PLACE

Annabelle Mauger, creator of the exhibition in 2008, included in the exhibition works from the last two years of the artist’s life to “share a little piece of France” painted by Van Gogh.

“This type of exhibition is a free, familiar place for children,” he noted last night at the opening, noting that “there is something magical” about the exhibition, which is address “to all, without distinction of age, culture or language”. “

Before the immersive space, of about a thousand square meters, there are educational panels to deepen knowledge about the life and work of the artist, who more than 130 years after his death, remains one of the most famous all time.

Ecuador’s Minister of Culture, María Elena Machuca, called the exhibition “magical”, which becomes a sensory and digital spectacle that combines art, lights, colors, music and shapes in the huge projections of Van’s works. Gogh, which constantly change with each session, lasting thirty minutes.

These are works projected on Image Totale which are part of prestigious collections of museums such as the Orsay in Paris, the National Gallery of Art in London, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the MoMA Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. from New York.

“HE FEELS WITH TENDERNESS”

During the opening, the minister addressed a phrase by Van Gogh to the public: “I want to touch people with my art, I want them to say that he feels deeply, that he feels tenderly.”

“So here we are to respond to Vincent Van Gogh’s desire to deeply feel tenderness in his works,” said the minister, who during the exhibition expressed to EFE her deep emotion at finding herself surrounded by art. from a master who knew how to interpret landscapes, luminous and expressive portraits and vibrant scenes of nature “full of tenderness”.

Moved by the intense yellows and Van Gogh’s signature features, the minister – who is also an artist – said looking at the series of sunflowers evokes life in her, and lamented that two activists from the organization Just Stop Oil had launched the soup Friday on the famous painting “The Sunflowers”, at the National Gallery in London.

He recognized the importance of raising his voice to make current issues visible, but protest must be channeled in another way, he said amid the exhibit illuminated by the series of sunflowers, painted between 1888 and 1889, and that they had a special meaning for Van Gogh because they communicated “gratitude”.

susana wood