Exploring the worlds of Vincent Van Gogh in Film and Virtual-Reality

The film Loving Vincent and the VR Experience The Night Cafe let you enter the mind and works of Vincent Van Gogh in unique and magical ways.

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The enigmatic Vincent Van Gogh is one of the most influential and iconic figures in art. We have all encountered his most famous paintings, even if we're not consciously aware of some of them. They imprint themselves into our collective minds in a way that is difficult to explain and comprehend. He is also a fascinating and seemingly undecipherable person, who suffered severely from depression and eventually killed himself.

Recently, we have been allowed a dip into his world through not one, but two different modalities. The film Loving Vincent is an animated biographical drama which has been lovingly and painstakingly crafted in the style of his own paintings. I watched it and was blown away by the small details in the film, which explores the circumstances surrounding Vincent Van Gogh's death in 1890. It started as a Kickstarter campaign with 796 backers originally pledging $64,000. The outcome is a unique work of art.

It sounds rather hubristic, but I have no doubt that this film will win the 2018 nomination for best animated film.

The second way of jumping into Van Gogh's mindscape is through The Night Cafe - A VR tribute to Vincent Van Gogh on the HTC Vive and Oculus rift. Being able to walk through a painted Van Goghian world in three dimensions is a surreal and immeasurably enjoyable experience. Although it is short, this experience from Borrowed Light Studios is free and has to be one of the most well-crafted and beautiful experiences in room-scale immersive virtual reality.

Here is my play-through:

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I felt that I was living within a world made of his paintings. Not only did I appreciate his art in a new way, it also made it clear to me how Virtual Reality can have a role in forming new types of experiences that we could not imagine before.

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Vincent Van Gogh had a difficult life, who knows what he would think of the pleasures he has given so many after his death. With cinema and virtual reality, we can experience his work in new and inspiring ways.

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