My Van Gogh Experience
A Trip To York
Last week my friend surprised me with a ticket to the Van Gogh Experience in York.
It was housed in such a beautiful, quaint medium sized church. I literally had no clue what to expect!
As soon as we went through the Church doors, we were greeted by some ambient music coming from the next room. I think I was jumping up and down a lot with excitement at this point haha.
Once inside, there were several rows of deck chairs in the middle of the room and along the walls, wooden outdoor benches with thin cushions on them. We of course tried both sections.
The idea of the deck chairs was nice because it gave you a 180 view of the room but comfort wise, they weren’t the best. It also didn’t make much sense seeing as there wasn’t really anything on the ceiling to enjoy looking at.
Luckily we came in at the perfect time as it seemed the experience had just returned to the beginning. It’s on a continuous loop with each loop lasting 30 minutes.
It started off so sad and melancholic which is something I connected with on such a deep level. I thought that as the scenes started to brighten up that it would remain bright. Clearly I had forgotten just how tragic Van Gogh’s life was so when it looped back to the sad beginning, I realised we had actually walked in at the ending. That left me lost for words. I just sat there in deep thought, brought back by the voice of my friend asking me if I was ready to move into the next room. To be honest I could have fallen asleep there. It was so relaxing for the most part.
During the darker moments I found the music quite uncomfortable to listen to but as the scenes brightened, the music became more romantic. I truly believe classical music is romantic poetry.
I didn’t want to use my phone much when I was there because I wanted to be in the moment. There were some scenes however that I felt ran a little too long which took me out of the moment. This is only because I couldn’t relate to them that well. The scenes I did relate to took me to the world inside my mind and I was so happy being there.
Whenever I felt I was becoming distracted, I would write in my travel journal some of my thoughts and the things that stood out to me.
One of the quotes that I loved and got me thinking was: Normality is a comfortable road to walk on, but no flowers grow there.
That resonated with me so much. Yes, we can do everything to make ourselves fit in, but what would be the point in that? We were all made to be our unique selves and yet most people would rather be a robot; a carbon copy of someone else because somehow that will make life better. But it won’t and it doesn’t make life better. It makes life become boring, dull and well… less.
So my takeaway? Live your life. Don’t lose yourself trying to be someone else. Be your true authentic self. Who cares if people don’t like it? Van Gogh sold 1 painting out of the 2000+ he painted in his life and now he’s one of the most famous artists of all time! You will be appreciated. You will find your people. Don’t give up!