The "Meet Vincent van Gogh Experience", a lavish multimedia presentation about the Dutch expressionist’s life, launched in Beijing earlier this month at the Golden Resources Shopping Mall (until 16 September). The show—created in partnership between Holland’s Van Gogh Museum, the exhibition development firm Artcomm and the Wai Chun Culture company—is expected to attract more than 2,000 visitors daily (a five-year, 30-city tour of Greater China, taking in Shanghai in November is also on the cards). However, Axel Rüger, the director of the Van Gogh Museum, says that “the Experience does not rely on the original artworks in our collection, many of which are now too fragile to travel.” This is, he adds, “a complete experience, an intimate journey through Van Gogh’s life,” mixing projections, reproductions, films, and sets, so “visitors are transported back to key locations in Vincent’s life.” And visitors will get new insights into an under-the-radar topic, mental health, which remains taboo in China. “His illness is integral to this story and therefore plays a major part,” Rüger says.
