TACOMA, Wash. — Three presidents have spoken at the historic Tacoma Armory. The Ventures, The Wailers, and The Sonics played dances there. And the Dockyard Dames roller derby team used to practice on its well-oiled wooden floors. Now one of the most famous artists of all time is visiting.
"He's a rock star," said Paul DuPont-Hebert of Imagine Van Gogh : The Immersive Exhibition. "He's a superstar. I have compared him to The Beatles."
He's Vincent Van Gogh, the Dutch master whose expressive use of color can now be fully appreciated in an exhibit that puts visitors inside his paintings.
"We call it taking the museum out of the museum," Imagine Van Gogh's Angela Di Corpo said.
Instead of standing in a crowd surrounding small paintings, the paintings surround you while beautiful classical music plays. Plan on spending 45 minutes transported into another world.
"It's an escape," DuPont-Hebert said. "It's an escape for the brain and the eyes for the ears. It is a moment you will not forget."
Here you'll see sketches become paintings. And paintings seemingly coming to life. The artist may have been famously troubled, but his art is full of joy and romance.
"We've seen people cry," Di Corpo said. "We've seen engagements happen
and we've seen weddings happen and we've seen couples that come in not holding hands and by the end, they are holding hands."
The exhibition was in Vancouver, BC last year.
Van Gogh may have only sold one painting in his lifetime but there's no denying his worldwide appeal today.
"Everybody loves Van Gogh," DuPont-Hebert said." Everybody loves him.
Everybody."
Imagine Van Gogh: The Immersive Exhibition runs through April 27 at the Tacoma Armory. Tickets must be purchased in advance online.
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