Imagine Van Gogh, designed by Annabelle Mauger and Julien Baron (longtime collaborators on projects at Cathédrale d’images), is a direct continuation of Albert Plécy’s concept of the “Image Totale”.

The post-impressionist and even expressionist character of Van Gogh’s work, particularly that from the last two years of his life, creates a boundless playground of opportunities for the exhibition’s directors. Van Gogh delighted in painting what he saw, but he distorted and exaggerated all figuration. As a result, the scope of interpretative possibilities proliferates as the canvases become fragmented and subtle details are punctuated.

This original presentation, obtained through the mastery of dimension and space with an additional poetic touch, is not seeking to simply reiterate what already exists, but rather to author a new poem. The Starry Night, for example, is magnified by a precise division of the painting, accentuating the detail of its movements and the isolation of its stars. The end result creates an enchanting fiction, exploding across the entire projection surface.
Visitors enter a room with extraordinary screen dimensions. Usually when looking at a painting it would only measure 70 cm in height, but now this same painting is over 7 m high! This size now allows you to be as close as possible to the art and awaken all of your senses for an intimate understanding of his work of art while demonstrating this within an impressive setting.

The directors assert that the anachronism, inherent in presenting works with these modifications of scale, allows for new interpretations beyond the lecture du détail (literally the “reading of detail”), the interpretive framework preferred by Daniel Arasse in his book, Histoire de la peinture.

TECHNOLOGY AT THE SERVICE OF ART THROUGH MORE THAN 200 WORKS BY VAN GOGH

It was between Provence and l’Ile-de-France that Vincent realized his most beautiful paintings. As visitors follow his itinerary, they discover Van Gogh’s pictorial work from this period. Their journey begins with a portrait of the artist, whose deep blue eyes seem to leap from the canvas as they stare back intensely.

Sky and sun, landscapes, urban and rural backdrops, villagers, peasants, still lifes, along with the miseries and joys of humanity are all depicted in turn, colouring the canvas under the discerning eye of a painter contemplating the turn of the century.

Web site: http://imaginevangogh.com/