HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Have you ever wanted to step in to one of your favorite paintings?

The iconic building that once housed Amoeba Music in Hollywood has been transformed into the Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit with the help of 500,000 cubic feet of projections and 90 million pixels of high definition light. 

The larger than life works of post-impressionist painter Vincent Van Gogh are projected on the walls along with music and sounds by composer Luca Longobardi.

Iconic paintings such as Starry Night and the famous irises shift and transform before your eyes as you wander through the spaces.

The exhibit’s creative director is David Korins, whose stage production design work includes Broadway’s "Hamilton" and "Beetlejuice."

Korins said his challenge with the Van Gogh exhibit was two-fold.

“It's my job as creative director to create an experience that both contextualizes the man, the artist, but also to theatricalizes it,” said Korins.

Korins added that audiences have been responding well to the kind of merger of art, architecture, technology and sound that the show brings together.

“The audience sees a seamless 360-degree image, but it's actually, in this room, 67 digital projectors tied together,” Korins explained. “There’s seventeen miles of cable running through this building. It is a massive, massive technical undertaking.”

The exhibit has already seen successful runs in other cities around the world and its original creator, Italian artist Massimiliano Siccardi, has been working with immersive experiences for 20 years.

The show is tailored to each city it appears in, and it is Korins’ job to bring it all to life in an engaging way.

“…to be able to engage and learn and be entertained by one of the top five most recognizable artists of all time, and to filter it through my own artistic sensibility, literally curated for the city that we're installing it in is extraordinary,” said Korins. “I remember staring at [Van Gogh’s] paintings as a kid and studying him in art history and to find a new lens to deliver that through is really, really extraordinary.”

The show’s producer Corey Ross said the life of Vincent Van Gogh – who died at the age of 37 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound – has many resonances with our current moment and gives the experience and added depth and poignancy. 

“People are very familiar with [Van Gogh’s] life experience, and now more than ever, coming out of COVID, I believe that we can all relate to it,” said Ross. “Here's a guy who experienced depression, struggled with mental illness, struggled with isolation, loneliness, and now it's something that I think all of us can relate to.” 

Visitors to the exhibit can set their own pace as they make their way through the showrooms, which is like stepping into, walking through the paintings as they shift, and transform.

“His work has transcended the difficult times that he has had,” said Ross. “I believe people are finding that very cathartic right now.”

Although the works of Van Gogh remain some of the most widely seen of any artist, David Korins hopes the exhibit will bring a new depth and appreciation for his life and work.

“I think every piece of art that you get to experience changes you,” Korins said. “I think it opens up your eyes, and opens up your mind, and opens up your heart. The work speaks for itself and people are showing up in droves, and it's really a testament, I think, to Van Gogh, his vision and his staying power.”

The Immersive Van Gogh Exhibition kicks off in Hollywood, July 31.