Sunday 16th July 2023
Today was a calmer, more introspective day than yesterday, although I did venture out to meet Brigitte. We'd bought tickets for the Van Gogh Immersion Experience and I decided to take the bus into the city to get there. It was a nice sunny day and a touch warmer than yesterday so the front seat of the bus gave me a great car-free obstruction view of the upper floors of the buildings.
The London landscape has changed dramatically since the 2012 Olympics. Huge skyscrapers now alter the skyline. St Paul's law used to protect the view of the Cathedral, and was created in 1937. There's still some protected viewpoints and a restriction of height for aviation purposes. I find all the construction both fascinating and alarming.
My bus dropped me close to the Van Gogh venue and I had to pass a bustling 'posher' market than the Borough market yesterday. Around the market the streets seemed quiet and there wasn't a queue outside my destination. I liked the calmer feeling.
Brigitte arrived and we entered a rather interesting poster display of Van Gogh's life, and art. I'd done a Lockdown skit on him and I vaguely remembered some details about him but the sad energy quickly returned to me. We discovered he'd been colour blind and that had affected his use of bold colours. He certainly didn't see life in the same way as us and now, his art has altered our view of sunflowers, irises, Paris Cafés, and a starry night almost 2 centuries later.
As the display ended I was a little disappointed but then realised that we hadn't entered the Immersion experience yet.
What a lovely feeling. A big open room, with some benches, deck chairs, carpets and beanbags that had his art projected all over accompanied with classical music and narration. It was wonderful. A small baby was jumping up and down at all the light movement and for some time I felt the same awe as the child.
I didn't know that he'd lived in the area I'm in right now, Brixton, in 1873 to 1874 and that makes me feel even more connected to this soul. One of the quotes on screen was “I am not an adventurer by choice but by fate."
Somehow that just adds to all the daily magic that I seem to find myself in.
"I dream my painting and I paint my dream.."
I'm currently living mine.
Comments