VANISHING POINT

The images at the van Gogh show change and shift. At times you can imagine that you are walking through a hallucinogenic version of the fields of Provence. But don't walk too far toward the horizon. You'll bump your nose.               

PUNISHMENT

A transition point between rooms in the Beyond Van Gogh exhibit, illustrating why it's just a little cheesy. Of course, if you pronounced the name in Dutch it might sound like an invitation to choke on something. Maybe it would be better to show a video of Aerosmith's Walk This Way.         

WHERE'S THE FRENCH FRIES?

The Beyond Van Gogh show cycled through his famous paintings, not that there were that many. This is the well-known early work, The Potato Eaters, with their gaunt but not yet desperate faces. The children in the audience thought it was great fun to twirl in the flickering lights on the floor. Thats Ellie sprawled on the lower right.           

FLY ME TO THE MOON AND LET ME PLAY AMONG THE STARS

That's what this picture usually makes me think of, rather than a beautiful night along the Rhone in Arles, which I've had the privilege to visit two or three times. I did not, however, walk on the surface of the river. In my system of lose associations, I hear Frank Sinatra singing this romantic clap-trap 60s standard. Remarkably, I found a video of him singing it here in St. Louis about two years before I showed up.  https://youtu.be/Y2rDb4Ur2dw                         

LOOK! UP IN THE SKY! IT'S A BIRD . . . IT'S A PLANE!

Well, it sure ain't Superman. This is part of the general scene in the Beyond Van Gogh show that the family visited over the weekend. You may feel that you are walking within the scenes he painted, unless, of course they were showing his portraits at the moment.

I think people enjoyed it but we were a bit disappointed. This is much inferior to the originator of the idea, the Atlier des Lumieres, https://www.atelier-lumieres.com/en/, in Paris. A look at their website will show you why, although you get a reduced experience without the sweeping, perfectly coordinated classical music. (I remember hearing an orchestral selection from Parsifal when we saw a Klimpt show there.) The music here was soothing string orchestra elevator music, although I noticed that at one point they were playing Simon & Garfunkel's All Off To Look For America. In a show about a Dutch painter, working in the south of France.             

MADELEINE MONDAY

Swirling through clouds while flat on the floor. There is an exhibition here and perhaps other places called Beyond Van Gogh. (A quick search suggests that there is a similar competing show in several international cities.) It's in a gigantic tent on a shopping mall parking lot, with swirling projections of the artist's work on the walls and floor. More about the show in days to come but Ellie seemed to think she could float through all of it.