The Amsterdam based Van Gogh Museum will bring the painter's history to life with a series of exhibitions titled Meet Vincent van Gogh starting next May. The series will spend the following five years touring more than 40 Chinese cities, the museum announced at a press conference in Beijing on Thursday.
Different from some other exhibitions about Van Gogh, the tour will focus on the artist's life from 1853 to 1890, featuring stories, letter copies and multimedia content matched with reproductions of his artworks.
"We've considered an entire different experience for this exhibition. Visitors can see, hear, touch, feel and explore the life of Van Gogh," Peter Tabernal, managing director of the project, told the Global Times, adding that he defines the tour as more of an experience than an exhibition.
"Exhibition for me is presenting artwork. But we are trying to present his life, and artwork is only part of the background. We are going to use technique and knowledge to help visitors step into Vincent's life," he said.
While the Van Gogh Museum has the largest collection of the painter's works, the exhibition will be limited to reproductions.
Adriaan Donszelmann, managing director of the Van Gogh Museum, explained to the Global Times that the reason for this is due to the difficulties in transporting and preserving the original artworks.
However, the museum will still be able to bring many other materials from the artist's life so visitors may come to better understand his history.
In recent years, exhibitions focusing on classic Western artists have proved to be very popular in China. A recent Van Gogh show in Shanghai, Van Gogh Alive the Experience, presenting footage of Van Gogh works.
Although criticized for its lack of original artwork by some critics, the exhibition sold 150,000 tickets online and recorded more than 30,000 visitors in a single day.
