Van Gogh Immersive Experience and Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel Exhibition-Reviews?

[AngelaGT]

My dh is a high school art teacher of 30 years.  Both of these experiences are within driving distance (2-3 hours) from my home.  I am thinking of purchasing tickets and was curious if anyone has had the opportunity to experience these and has reviews.

https://vangoghexpo.com/

https://chapelsistine.com/exhibition/

Thanks.

[Terabith]

I haven't, but I have a friend who went to, I think, the Sistine Chapel one?  He said it was beyond amazing!

[TheReader]

I'm curious as well. The Van Gogh one is going to be near us, in August, but location keeps saying "TBD" which freaks me out. Not sure I am willing to plop down the money for an event at an as-yet undisclosed location. I find that so odd! (It looks amazing, but still....)

[bookbard]

Went to the Van Gogh one when it was in Sydney, and it was fantastic; I ended up going twice (second time with kids). I don't know if it's the same as your one, but probably. You walk into a big space, all the walls have projections of Van Gogh paintings and some of the floor, too. There's music and the story of Van Gogh is part of it too. I really enjoyed it. 

[ktgrok]

36 minutes ago, TheReader said:

I'm curious as well. The Van Gogh one is going to be near us, in August, but location keeps saying "TBD" which freaks me out. Not sure I am willing to plop down the money for an event at an as-yet undisclosed location. I find that so odd! (It looks amazing, but still....)

Same! Seemed scammy!

[KungFuPanda]

Oooh, it's July for me and I can walk from my daughter's house.

[CTVKath]

You're in luck because we visited the Van Gogh immersive exhibit this morning and the Sistine Chapel exhibit a couple of weeks ago.

The Van Gogh exhibit is absolutely amazing. I'd go again in a heartbeat. Worth every penny. I got teary at one point and just could have wept at the beauty displayed so well and there was so much of it. They had large signs to explain all the groupings of paintings. A few were 3D. I took a small folding stool for the large projection room while my husband and kids sat on the floor. There were a few benches and rugs around to sit on. The moving projection was really well done. If we'd had time, we probably would have watched it a second time. If you go, definitely do the virtual reality exhibit. It was $5 extra per person but so well done and just really good. It is worth the extra $5. Now I want to go to Arles. Our tickets were for 10:00 when they opened so we entered with a crowd. Instead of staying with the crowd, we walked ahead to the end and did the virtual reality first. Then we backtracked to do the whole exhibit without such a big clump of people. It is supposed to take 60-75 minutes but we were in there 2 hours. With a 9yo and 11yo. It was truly that good. For parking, we got reserved parking in Lot A right next to the exhibit through the ParkMobile website. That was for 4 hours but we didn't really need it. We could have paid by the hour and purchased parking when we got there. Porta potties in the parking lot.

Edited to add: This was the Van Gogh Immersive experience through FeverUp.

The Sistine Chapel exhibit was not my favorite but I'm still very glad I went. Took about an hour. We had 10:00 tickets and arrived early so we could park in the tiny free lot adjacent to the exhibit. There's also a public deck up the street not far away. It was a good exhibit. Amazing to be so close to the art work. Amazing to be so close and it was so big and to think of Michelangelo painting it and using the fresco method. Great signage to go with each piece. When I say it wasn't my favorite, that's because I was not prepared for what I'd see in all the Sistine Chapel paintings. I was only familiar with the creation of man piece. I was shocked by all the nudity - I couldn't escape it. I also didn't understand the theology and had difficulty figuring out all the paintings where the Bible character I was familiar with was painted as a baby or toddler and the unknown parents were the main feature of the painting. And I wasn't familiar with who all the prophetesses were. There wasn't a single thing wrong with any of the art work. I just hadn't studied it and therefore wasn't prepared for what I was going to see. But I'm still glad I went. It was good. My 9yo and 11yo were not interested. There are bathrooms at the exhibit in the hall behind one of the paintings. 

I hope you and your husband go to both! They are both fantastic in their own ways! 🙂

Edited May 29, 2021 by CTVKath
Edited to specify version of Van Gogh exhibit.

[TheReader]

37 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

Same! Seemed scammy!

so glad I'm not the only one! I'm sure it's fine, but I'm like...."No, I'll wait till there is an actual spot mentioned/listed...."   (Plus, "Houston" is HUGE. So, for real, I need to know if I'm driving 30 mins or 1.5 hours, because "Houston" could be either one.....

[ktgrok]

10 minutes ago, TheReader said:

so glad I'm not the only one! I'm sure it's fine, but I'm like...."No, I'll wait till there is an actual spot mentioned/listed...."   (Plus, "Houston" is HUGE. So, for real, I need to know if I'm driving 30 mins or 1.5 hours, because "Houston" could be either one.....

Yup - Orlando Metro isn't as big as Houston I don't think, but I'm in a town on the west side, outside Orlando. If it ends up being on the other side it could be an hour drive. And if they really mean "disney area" not orlando, that's a whole other story. 

[madteaparty]

We did the Van Gogh one when we lived in Paris (it had a different name) and my people loved it and still talk about it. I personally  am not into that sort of thing but it was universally loved, I guess. It was kind of a pain to get to and they were complaining all the way (I dragged them to a LOT of art things) but this one they took back all the whining lol. 

[whitestavern]

Note that there are two Van Gogh shows, so you might want to read up on the differences. There are a lot of location-specific articles, but here's one from NY: https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2021/03/04/vincent-van-gogh-immersive-experience/ There have been many complaints about the company putting on the Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience show. (FeverUp)

We purchased tix for the Boston Imagine Van Gogh show in December. Can't wait!

[Spryte]

We have tickets for the Van Gogh in December.  

[Farrar]

In fact, there are MORE than two. I think I read there are four or five DIFFERENT Van Gogh touring shows in the US right now. We got discounted tickets to the one in DC, but for September, because our summer plans were so up in the air. I keep forgetting we have them. The location did say TBD when they first announced it but then it was verified as being real by a local trustworthy news source that it was a thing that was coming so I went ahead and bought them while the discount was in place.

[sassenach]

The Van Gogh one has had rave reviews from my friends. 

[madteaparty]

Well the French one was this company in case anyone is keeping track 🤷‍♀️ https://www.atelier-lumieres.com/en

[popmom]

I really want to do the Van Gogh experience, but I have been put off by what I have read about there being so many different productions. I guess I'll take my chances on whichever one comes closest to me. Probably Atlanta.

Did anyone see the indie film Loving Vincent that came out a few years ago? So, so good. The OG immersive Van Gogh imo--if you were able to see it on the big screen. Can't imagine what the new immersive experience will be like.

Edited May 30, 2021 by popmom