In a waterfall of color and texture, suddenly you’re standing on the Rhone River underneath twinkling stars.
The scene pulses and ripples as classical music crescendos overhead. The scene transforms before your eyes — wheat fields, gardens of violets, French farmland. Clouds drift across the sky, petals bloom, a duck flies from a field of reeds. “Starry Night” swirls around you.
Vincent van Gogh’s paintings have always skillfully pulled viewers’ perspectives into the scene. With the newest permanent feature at the Newfields, visitors can now physically step into some of master’s most stunning works of art.
THE LUME Indianapolis has come to Indianapolis. Housed on the transformed fourth floor of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the immersive experience puts the viewer inside van Gogh’s world.
People will stroll through the sunny gardens of “The Sunflowers,” watch “Almond Blossoms” sway in the breeze and be captivated by the water front scene in “Starry Night Over the Rhone.”
Inside the reproduction of a French cafe, sip on a signature “LUME and tonic” cocktail that blooms before your eyes, or enjoy traditional rustic French dishes such as baguettes and radishes with butter. Snap a selfie and turn your own portrait into a signature van Gogh painting.
The experience is the first permanent installation of its kind in the world.
“We know that globally, in Europe and other places, the public has responded so well to this — to be able to see van Gogh in this format, and really engage with the paintings itself,” said Jerry Wise, interim CEO of Newfields. “We think this is what the people of Indianapolis really want and deserve from a great cultural institution.”
THE LUME is created by Australian-based Grande Experiences, which focuses on the creation, design, production, promotion and installation of large-scale exhibitions and immersive experiences.
With it’s arrival at Newfields, the exhibit will be the largest continuous exhibition space in the museum’s 138-year history, part of museum leadership’s goal of reaching new audiences through innovation.
In massive galleries, 150 high-definition projectors display a rotating collection of van Gogh paintings from floor to ceiling. The effect can be intense, but mesmerizing as the scenes shift and merge all around you. Classical music, shifting between playful to foreboding, helps capture the emotional turmoil that marked much of van Gogh’s life.
The exhibit turns the imagery of van Gogh’s paintings into dynamic scenes — tree limbs shake, field workers appear out of darkness, flowers bloom and wither.
“THE LUME is an experience you’re meant to wander around in. Everything you’re seeing the galleries, you can wander through and experience it in full,” said Jonathan Berger, deputy director for marketing and external affairs at Newfields.
The projections are stunning and bombastic. But those set the scene for a quieter experience that is just as moving, as people have the chance to see a van Gogh painting included in the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s permanent collection. “Landscape at Saint-Rémy (Enclosed Field with Peasant)” was painted after he admitted himself at the asylum there. The colorful, turbulent piece shows the view from his bedroom, with fields and tree-dotted hills leading up to the foothills of the Alps.
“This was the view when he saw in the morning when he got up, and at night when he went to sleep. This is one of the views that was probably most familiar with him,” said Annette Schlagenhauff, curator of European art at Newfields.
Curators have displayed the painting alongside the work of other important works from the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s collection: “Landscape near Arles” by Paul Gauguin and “House in Provence” by Paul Cézanne. The three were painted in the same general region, and all within five years of one another.
Together, the three showcase the impact that southern France had on artists at the time, characterized by dazzling sunlight and unique landscapes. The works also show how brilliant the three artists were in impacting the art world.
“It’s encapsulated right here all of those threads that were focusing on overturning and revolutionizing the art world, and van Gogh was very much a part of that,” Schlagenhauff said.
Plans are in place later on in the exhibition to include another van Gogh painting, part of the Wheat Fields collection, after “Landscape at Saint-Rémy (Enclosed Field with Peasant)” travels on loan to Dallas, Texas.
“This exhibition has allowed us to physically double the number of physical van Goghs that the people of Indianapolis have access to,” Wise said.
Other features of THE LUME allow visitors to truly feel a part of van Gogh’s world. A special interpretative area gives people the opportunity to magnify different paintings projected on a wall-sized screen, to get a closer look at the texture, brush strokes and other details of his masterpieces. A selfie station offers a chance to “van Gogh” themselves using special filters inspired by the artist’s most well-known work.
In an atmospheric cafe laden in blues, greens and black, the culinary arts team of Josh Ratliff and Lindsay Jo Whirley have created an artistic experience using food and drink. The menu will include rustic French snacks in addition to whimsical pastries and other items.
“We pushed to drive some of the French themes that van Gogh brought through his works, but also, what’s around you is anything but old and rustic. It’s incredibly technology-forward. It’s futuristic. So not only are we having old French dishes, but also things that are mind-blowing,” said Ratliff, director of culinary arts.
Curators have imagined cocktails inspired by van Gogh’s work, including the signature LUME and tonic.
The drink, created with the help of West Fork Whiskey, features elderflower, lemon and vodka. Elderflowers frozen in ice are added to the cocktail, and slowly open up as the ice melts.
“Just like THE LUME is a multisensory experience, very visual, we wanted the cocktail to be the same,” said Lindsay Jo Whirley, the operational manager of the culinary arts department.
But the van Gogh experience doesn’t end when leaving THE LUME. In the Newfields gardens, the horticulture team has planted special beds inspired by the artist’s work. For example, a bed inspired by “Starry Nights” brings the painting alive through flowers and other plants.
Other interactive opportunities are planned throughout the museum grounds, as well.
Though the content of THE LUME will rotate annually, the technology and infrastructure for the digital galleries are permanent. Newfields plans to curate content in coming years to include the works of other master artists, as well as emerging artists, local artists and artists from communities that have been often underrepresented.
“We’re excited to engage new visitors and art lovers alike with this immersive, high-tech way of experiencing works of art. Moving forward, we’re laser focused on showcasing contemporary, local, and diverse artists and creating programming that truly reflects our community and engages all audiences,” said Darrianne Christian, chair of the Newfields board of trustees.
