Experience Van Gogh in Herzliya

Today I went to the most amazing Van Gogh state of the art experiential exhibit at the Herzliya Marina, Van Gogh Exhibition, Arena Mall, Herzliya January - April 2020.

This isn't your usual museum art exhibit, nor was it in a museum. We saw images and illusions, not real paintings. Actually, I don't even know how to properly describe the experience. Yes, it was more an experience than a classic art exhibit.

The explanations were in Hebrew and Russian. The very friendly helpful staff assisted me and some of my friends, and of course other visitors to the exhibit, in downloading and using Google Translate. I learned how to aim my phone on Russian text and then see a translation on my phone screen. To be perfectly honest, it was rather hard to read it. I guess that's what dyslexics have to suffer through. My illustration/screen shot to the left was among the "clearest" of the translations. White on black is far from my favorite, but there were much better things to come.

We entered a large room with all sorts of chairs and lounges. On the floor, walls and ceilings of this room were the most amazing projections. I can't really describe them. Vincent Van Gogh's most famous paintings were not only projected, but they morphed and moved as if alive. Look at the videos and photos.

Once we were pretty sure we had experienced the "whole show," we continued to the next part. There were desks, crayons and "coloring book pages" of some of Van Gogh's most iconic paintings. We felt tempted to sit and color in the artwork, but curiosity drew us away.

We found ourselves experiencing a surreal virtual reality.

Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience is a 360 degree experience in the universe of one of the greatest geniuses of the last century.

Perched on stools, we were helped into hi-tech masks which blanked out the room we were in and substituted something otherworldly. We felt we were traveling, even though we could feel the floor when we let our feet down. The trip felt so realistic, we held onto the stool, so we wouldn't fall off. Somehow we entered Van Gogh's village. This was a 360 degree experience. Look up, down and around, and we weren't in Herzliya by the Marina. We saw a small European village from about a hundred and fifty years ago.

My description doesn't do the Van Gogh Exhibit justice. You must experience it yourself. The entrance fee is high, but there are ways to get discounts. Enjoy, and tell me what you thought of it.