Van Gogh Starry Sky Art Museum

Over the past six months or so, I have visited many art museums, but I often find myself thinking about one question: how can the artworks displayed in glass cases and picture frames form a real connection with viewers? That connection is not about teaching viewers the materials or techniques of a painting, nor even about introducing them to artistic schools or styles. Rather, it is about helping them truly understand and feel the emotions and thoughts an artist experienced while creating the work. Clearly, such things cannot really be conveyed through wall labels or through dense, jargon-heavy texts. Today, I decided to try an unofficial art experience and game center themed around Van Gogh and his paintings. I wanted to see whether modern projection, multimedia, and interactive technology could help ordinary visitors experience art more deeply.

The Van Gogh Starry Sky Art Museum is located on the 8th floor of Building C in the No. 1 Department Store Commercial Center at 800 East Nanjing Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai. It is an art experience venue especially well-suited to families. Using mirrors, projection, lighting effects, and other multimedia elements, it creates dazzling, dreamlike environments inspired by Van Gogh’s paintings. It not only recreates the intense, passionate colors of his work but also allows visitors to step into spectacular, almost surreal versions of classic scenes such as his starry nights and wheat fields. There are no original Van Gogh paintings here, but multimedia presentations gently narrate his life story while displaying and interpreting his major works one by one. Compared with the explanations offered in a conventional museum or a documentary film, the experience feels more vivid and more immediate.

Standing inside the immersive installation based on The Starry Night, with images swirling all around me, I could sense the dizziness and awe Van Gogh may have felt when he looked up at the night sky at Saint-Rémy. In the simulated wheat field environment, enhanced by projection and visual effects, I felt the blazing intensity of the orange-yellow tones that Van Gogh loved throughout his life. Some time ago, I was chatting with a professional curator, who told me that artists are “seers.” They are generally more sensitive, and so they perceive things that most people rarely notice. Perhaps that is the greatest value of a venue like this: it uses technology to amplify an artist’s sensibility, allowing ordinary viewers to grasp it more quickly. I do not know whether this is necessarily a good thing. In an age dominated by algorithms, the ability to stand quietly before a painting and patiently absorb the power of art may be even more precious. But as a form of public art education, this approach does seem effective and clearly meets the needs of many people. At the same time, this kind of immersive multimedia display is obviously better suited to some artists than others. Van Gogh’s work, with its intense colors and emotionally expressive style, is particularly well suited to it.

Many visitors treat this place simply as a photo spot for social media, which is a little regrettable. But as a commercial entertainment venue, attracting attention and foot traffic in this way is also understandable.

Admission to the Van Gogh Starry Sky Art Museum is generally around RMB 59. If you want to try additional games, the price increases depending on the activities you choose. A typical visit lasts about an hour.