A reconstruction of Van Gogh’s famous bedroom occupies 1,092 SF in the gallery and serves as a canvas for digital projections of artfully animated sketches, colorful brushstrokes, and quotes from Van Gogh’s personal journals and letters. We used rear projection for Inside the Bedroom, allowing visitors to get up close to the wall without casting shadows. Two interactive screens allow visitors to conduct a synchronized exploration of the paintings. Visitors can pinch, zoom, explore, and compare the three paintings freely or be guided by points of interest from the conservator’s work. With x-ray vision they can see the differences in style, texture, and technique that reveal the hidden methods of Van Gogh’s creative process.

The real essence of this experience is in the way the story is told. We aimed to help visitors understand the artist’s emotional state through personal quotes from Van Gogh’s letters and information from curators and conservators about why and how the paintings were created. Rather than just a placard describing this information, we opted to immerse visitors in Van Gogh’s world through light, sound, and touch, helping transport them beyond just surface-level exploration. We used large-scale projections that pan and linger on small detailed aspects of the paintings. An interactive touchscreen allows visitors to take a deeper dive into the paintings with access to additional information from conservators. Through evocative animations, visitors come to understand the scientific processes used to determine the order the paintings were created in and detail about their original color.

The exhibition opened February 14 and is already breaking attendance records. It’s the museum’s most attended show in almost 15 years, averaging 4,000 to 5,000 visitors per day. “If trends hold—and we have no idea if they will—we might reach 350,000 visitors or more by the time the exhibition ends its exclusive, three-month run,” said Tracey Button, marketing director for the Art Institute of Chicago. An inventive marketing campaign, which included a listing on Airbnb with an offer to sleep in Van Gogh’s bedroom, has helped fuel the exhibition’s success. The digitally enhanced reconstruction of Van Gogh’s bedroom achieves the set goal of allowing visitors to experience the artist’s state of mind and the physical space that inspired him. Enriching digital components bring to light significant scientific research on the paintings. The result is an innovative, intimate look at one of the most beloved and often-misunderstood artists of all time.