Ever since my first French lesson at age 14, I’ve had a running list of once-in-a-lifetime things I want to experience while in France. I want to see the famous Paris plages, visit Mont Blanc in Chamonix, and picnic along the Seine. I’ve gone up the Eiffel Tower during a massive hailstorm, walked the ramparts at Langres, and marveled at the City of Lights during a sunset Seine dinner cruise. In an extraordinary twist of fate, our most recent trip to Paris coincided another once-in-a-lifetime experience, the limited run of Van Gogh, La nuit étoilée, a mesmerizing tribute to the art and life of Van Gogh, presented by Atelier des Lumières. The immersive exhibition, located in the 11th arrondissement, began its run on February 22, just three months before we arrived, and is set to end on December 30, 2019.
So what exactly does the show entail? Truly, it is difficult to put into words. Imagine entering through two sets of theater doors and into a former steel foundry, its now-empty walls and floors swirling with the brushstrokes of Vincent Van Gogh.
Elements of the paintings are brought to life, like crows soaring over a wheatfield, or fishing boats bobbing in the sea. The art moves and melts into new paintings, set to the music of Wagner, Janis Joplin, Nina Simone, and more. Couples, friends and families marvel where they stand, or wander to take in a new perspective of the constantly-changing digital landscape all around them. The art on the walls is also projected on its viewers, making each and every person a part of the show. The experience is about 34 minutes long from beginning to end.
At the time of our visit, the Atelier des Lumières was also running two other shows: Japon Rêvé, images du monde flottant (Dreamed Japan, Images of the Floating World) and Verse, a starry-eyed imagining of the cosmos culminating in the big bang. The shows run one after the other in the same space, with a brief break between exhibits. All are included in the ticket price.
Van Gogh is one of the first artists I remember learning about in school. I admired his painting style, and as I learned more about Van Gogh’s life, I became fascinated with the man himself. On my last visit to Paris in 2016, I relished getting to stand face-to-face with one of his many portraits at the Musée d’Orsay. This time around, a trip to the Atelier des Lumières to see this very exhibit was one of the only things on my must-do list. So how did Van Gogh, la nuit étoilée hold up to my expectations?
Put it this way: I didn’t want to leave when the time came. Dan and I stayed and watched the show twice, first from a single spot in the foundry, and then moving from place to place to see what we missed. We roamed the room, sat on the floor and watched paint swirl across our legs, and peeked inside one of the silos, where we could see images of the featured paintings in their entirety. The musical accompaniment offered an element not normally found in a museum, and added to my emotional understanding of the paintings. I loved getting to see so many lesser-known paintings mingled with world-famous pieces like Starry Night Over the Rhône. One of my favorite parts, of course, was seeing individual brushstrokes transform into the swirling golden stars of what is likely Van Gogh’s most-beloved painting, Starry Night.
As a bonus, the gift shop had plenty of unique and interesting items for purchase! We bought a coffee table book with stunning images of the exhibition, and I definitely lingered over some beautiful silk scarves and quirky Van Gogh bookmarks. The only item I felt was missing was a soundtrack of some kind. Luckily for me, someone already created an Atelier des Lumières playlist on Spotify! Listen here.
Remember, if you’d like to see this exhibit, time is limited! If you don’t think you’ll make it in time, be sure to check out the video I took of our experience.
Practical Information
Location
38 rue Saint Maur 75 011 Paris
+33 1 80 98 46 00
Pricing
€14,5 Adult / €9,5 Youth (5-25 years old) / Children Under 5 Free
Tickets must be purchased online, as there is no ticketing office onsite. Tickets are booked for a specific time slot, though once you enter, you can stay as long as you like.
Transportation
I recommend the Paris Metro app for route planning. Plug in a start and end point, and the app pulls up metro stations, transfers, direction of travel, travel times and walking distances so you can make an informed decision in a hurry.
The closest metro stations to the Atelier des Lumières are Père Lachaise (Metro line 2), Rue Saint-Maur (line 3), and Voltaire / Saint-Ambroise (line 9).
For more details and FAQs, see the official Atelier des Lumières website.
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