Digitalized Van Gogh paintings amuse art lovers in the capital

Visitors take photos of Van Gogh's paintings projected on screens at Van Gogh The Immersive Experience, an ongoing exhibition at the National Museum of China. [Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily]

Sunflowers, windmills, painters in front of canvas and vases of blossoming flowers, these easily recognizable elements from Vincent van Gogh's paintings have been digitalized, animated, rearranged and projected onto the ceiling, walls and floor of an exhibition space that draws the audience into an immersive look at the life and inner world of the Dutch painter.

This engaging encounter created via a sound and light show is the focus for Van Gogh The Immersive Experience, an ongoing exhibition at the National Museum of China running through Sept 22. Technicians have used cutting-edge technology to bring to life the work of the gifted artist through an all-encompassing projection display of images taken from more than 200 paintings and drawings from the artist's oeuvre.

This 35-minute show is being staged inside a spacious temporary exhibition space on a third-floor corridor of the National Museum of China. The viewer first encounters Van Gogh through a space set out like a gallery, in which the painter's self-portraits are displayed on wall-mounted screens. Then the gallery changes into different scenes inspired by Van Gogh's iconic works, where viewers "step inside" these familiar landscapes.