Beyond Van Gogh & Monet Immersive
Monet’s Waterlilies. The water moves in this immersive exhibit
Lenny, Chester, and I visited the Beyond Van Gogh & Monet Immersive Experience held at the Straz Center in downtown Tampa. We chose our visit to be midday on a weekday to avoid traffic concerns. This experience was unforgettable in many awesome ways.
Upon entering the exhibit, you have a number of displays detailing the history of Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet. These displays are on canvas and you follow a snake-like queue until you arrive at the entrance of the interactive exhibit. Our advice is to take your time and enjoy reading the historical information. It sets the stage for the interactive exhibit to follow.
Monet’s painting. (Notice these are the stools you will be sitting on. )
(Speaking of setting the stage, one part of the queue takes you onto the main stage of the theater. It was cool to take a minute and appreciate the beauty of the theater from the performer’s point of view.)
Entrance sign welcoming you to the exhibit
After the historical exhibit, you are led into the main show which is the immersive experience. There are stools to sit and two visual “movies”, each 30 minutes long. One shows the artwork of Van Gogh, and the other Monet’s paintings. There is sound accompanying these moving paintings, either orchestral or a voice over describing what you are seeing.
The Starry Night comes alive!
How amazing to see “Water Lilies” by Monet and “Starry Night” by Van Gogh among many other works come alive! In the immersive exhibit you are surrounded by a 360 degree view of painting, also with interaction with the floor. In other words, there are water lilies on the carpet as well as the walls.
Notice the texture in this view of The Starry Night and how it interacts with the floor.
The main interactive show runs continuously. For example, we arrived halfway through Monet’s show, so we stayed through Van Gogh and the other half of Monet’s shows. There is no time limit. You may stay and enjoy the artwork as long as you would like. This attraction is great for all ages.
These paintings comes alive with real movement.
After the main show, you are given virtual reality goggles and headphones and you experience on of Van Gogh’s most famous paintings, “Farmhouse in Provence,” while a narrator reads one of Vincent Van Gogh’s letters. In the letter he talks about the painting and his artwork. Only 6 minutes long, we wished this experience was longer.
Overall, the Beyond Van Gogh and Monet Immersive Experience was a definite hit with our crew. A couple of hints should you decide to go:
There is ample parking in a garage approximately one block from the Starz Center for the Performing Arts
Bring a sweater of light jacket. The air conditioning was set to very cold while we were there. I was thankful that I had a sweater.
Always bring a water bottle. It is Florida after all, and water bottles are ubiquitous. My favorite water bottle is found on this link: https://amzn.to/4jdOmP4
Don’t miss this opportunity and enjoy the exhibit!
All the best,
Jennifer
