by Anna Kovler

The immersive installation Imagine Van Gogh brings together two stories that took place roughly a hundred years apart in the same rolling hills and orchards of southern France. In spring of 1889, after a dramatic falling out with Paul Gauguin, Vincent Van Gogh moved to an asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence where, broken-hearted, he painted the nature that surrounded him. Almost a century later, Albert Plécy discovered an abandoned limestone quarry just ten kilometers from that asylum and founded there the Cathédrale d’Images, a program of projecting images onto the massive, rugged white walls of the quarry, accompanied by music. He called this a “total visual experience.” After working on many projects at Cathédrale d’Images, designers Annabelle Mauger and Julien Baron present this immersive experience of image and sound at Arsenal Contemporary Art Montréal.

I spoke with Annabelle on the occasion of her exhibition to find out how it was made and what she hopes to reveal about an artist we know so well.

Anna Kovler: Where and how did you get the images that are projected here?

Annabelle Mauger: Most of the pictures I took with my own camera. Every place I went where there are Van Gogh paintings I recorded them, and they are never behind glass. I wanted to capture the paintings from different angles, because as viewers we are never just in front of the paintings… we are on the left or on the right; we walk around. What you see in the exhibition is more three-dimensional than typical reproductions. This is important because he painted very thick. 

AK: How did you decide what order to show the paintings in?

AM: There was a scenario, which I wrote in consultation with a historian. We start with Van Gogh arriving in Arles where he planned to start a studio with his friend Paul Gauguin. The two had a violent discussion, and Van Gogh left. I don’t believe he was crazy at all! In French, we would say ‘disappointed.’ He was then interned at a good hospital, where the doctor who saved him just told him to paint. This was in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, where he painted all those olive landscapes. After this period, he decided to go back to see his brother, and this is where he finished his life.

AK: What do you think the effect of enlarging these paintings is? Are they changed?

AM: I think it changes the proximity you have with the paintings. When you go to a museum, you can’t get closer than one meter to a painting, but when you’re in front of these large projections, it feels like your nose is touching the painting. That distance between you and the work is gone, and you can go inside it, and see details you didn't notice. Some of Van Gogh’s brush strokes look so violent, but from up close you can see that everything is soft and curved. It was very important for us to show that.

AK: How is this different from seeing Van Gogh at a museum?

AM: In French museums you go from one room to another room, and it’s like being in an Ikea shop, like being on a tour, so for me it was important that in our show viewers can go in any direction they want. Their eyes can look in any way they want. For me it’s a freeing experience. The music is another way to go deeper inside the paintings, we use music that is contemporary to Van Gogh and we can imagine what he was listening to. I always think that Van Gogh was behind me saying ‘be careful, because I’m right behind you, choose the right details.’

Imagine Van Gogh is on view at Arsenal Contemporary Art Montréal until February 2, 2020. Annabelle Mauger lives and works in Lyon, France.