A family-friendly classical art exhibit making its way across Canada is coming to the Edmonton EXPO Centre this spring, but the opening date has been pushed back by three weeks.
Imagine Van Gogh is an immersive exhibition from Europe, featuring more than 200 of the Dutch artist’s paintings.
Tandem Expositions, in conjunction with France’s Encore Productions, said it’s bringing the production to Edmonton in April.
The exhibit was originally supposed to open on March 27 and run until May 2, but organizers said in light of the provincial government announcing Alberta will not move to Step 3 of the economic reopening plan, the exhibit is now rescheduled to open on Thursday, April 15.
Organizers said it will honour all tickets purchased for showings between March 27 and April 14. Customers will be contacted directly by ticket provider Showpass to reschedule their tickets.
Created by French artistic directors Annabelle Mauger and Julien Baron, the exhibit brings van Gogh’s canvases to life in “a vivid, spectacular way: the audience will literally enter the artist’s world of dreams.”
The organizers noted the exhibition contains bright lights that may cause discomfort for people with photosensitive epilepsy.
“It’s an immersive exhibition, which means that you won’t have any kind of a real canvas — it’s a video projection exhibition,” Mauger told Global News. “You will have video projections everywhere: on the wall, on the floor, everywhere, all around you.”
“We use it to show how van Gogh painted the south of France and the suburbs near Paris. It’s the projection of all the fantastic paintings created during the last two years of his life.”
According to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Vincent van Gogh became an artist just 10 years before his death and his time in the south of France was a turbulent period in his life. He struggled with mental illness and cut off his ear, but kept working — producing some of his most famous pieces of art.
Van Goh died by suicide at the age of 37 on July 29, 1890, in Auvers-sur-Oise — an artists’ village near Paris.
“His legacy was a large body of art works: over 850 paintings and almost 1,300 works on paper,” the museum’s biography said.
The Imagine Van Gogh exhibit takes his original canvas paintings, expanding and fragmenting them into unusual shapes and distortions of Van Gogh’s work that surround the viewer.
The artwork is accompanied by music from classical composers like Bach, Mozart and more.
“Without any text to read, the exhibition is really suitable for both art lovers and family with kids,” said Mauger, a mother of two herself.
“This point was very important for Julian and I — to see children jumping into the sunflowers or wandering in the streets of the yellow house.”
Imagine Van Gogh has been to Montreal, Quebec City and Winnipeg, and is now in Vancouver. Vancouver had record-breaking ticket sales and is currently sold out and working to extend its run, the organizers said.
The exhibit will be open Sundays to Wednesdays, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Thursdays to Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Ticket prices are as followed:
- Adult (16+): Monday to Thursday are $39.99 and Friday to Sunday are $49.99
- Child (4-15): Monday to Thursday are $34.99 and Friday to Sunday are $44.99
- Groups (4 and up) : Monday to Thursday are $34.99 and Friday to Sunday are $44.99
- Flex Adults (anytime within a given day, max 25 per day): $63.98
Children three and under are admitted for free, but due to capacity restrictions will still require a ticket. Adults are asked to make sure they add it to their order if a child under the age of three is accompanying them, as there are a limited number of toddler tickets available per time slot.
In the event of a temporary exhibit closure due to public health orders, all tickets scheduled during the closure will be automatically rescheduled for when the exhibit reopens.
A news release said the exhibit will open in accordance with Alberta’s public health guidelines.
The exhibition is a contactless experience and a limited number of guests will be allowed in on a timed-entry basis.
Hand sanitizer will be provided, physical distancing of two meters will be required, and masks will be mandatory upon entering.
Those interested in buying tickets can register online for the presale.
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