Massive van Gogh live digital art show to make West Coast debut

A touring live production that immerses visitors in massive digital images of Vincent van Gogh paintings is set to make its West Coast debut in San Francisco in March, organizers announced Thursday.

The walk-through “Immersive Van Gogh” exhibit opens March 18 at SVN West, a 100,000-square-foot arts/performance space created at a former auto dealership and onetime home of the Fillmore West and Carousel Ballroom, at Market and Van Ness streets in San Francisco.

Produced by Lighthouse Immersive and designed by the artist who created the wildly successful “Van Gogh, Starry Night” digital exhibit at the Atelier des Lumières in Paris, the show “invites audiences to ‘step inside’ the iconic works of van Gogh, evoking his highly emotional and chaotic inner consciousness through art, light, music, movement and imagination,” organizers said in a news release.

Although news of the live show comes during a surge in COVID-19 cases in the Bay Area and elsewhere, “Immersive Van Gogh,” which debuted in Toronto in July and also will run in Chicago early next year, has been designed to accommodate health and occupancy requirements caused by the pandemic, organizers say. The large, spacious surroundings that make SVN West so suitable for an immersive, walk-through art show also enable organizers to maintain socially distanced viewing.

Tickets for the show, which is scheduled to run through at least May 31, go on sale 10 a.m. Dec. 9 at vangoghsf.com or at 844-3074644. Ticket prices start at $39.99 ($24.99 for ages 16 or younger), with a variety of timed-ticket packages and options available.

The show, designed by Italian digital artist and filmmaker Massimiliano Siccardi, will feature a selection of images from van Gogh’s 2,000-plus paintings and drawings, including “Mangeurs de pommes de terre” (The Potato Eaters, 1885), “Nuit étoilée” (Starry Night, 1889), “Les Tournesols” (Sunflowers, 1888), and “La Chambre à coucher” (The Bedroom, 1889).

The show also includes scenes of the landscapes and images that inspired the paintings. The imagery will be set to a score by Luca Longobardi featuring electronic music and piano.

Organizers say the attendance at the show will be regulated to meet city and county safety guidelines. There will be touchless ticketing, temperature checks upon arrival, prominent social distancing markers and more safety features, and masks will be required.