The new Immersive Art show, featuring the art of Vincent Van Gogh, at the Carrieres de Lumieres over at Les Baux is terrific. If you haven’t visited before, this is a unique venue, a disused quarry where 100 projectors transmit images across the 16m high walls and across the floor and 27 speakers bathe the space in music. The visitor is literally surrounded by colour, image and sound. Van Gogh’s brilliantly colourful works lend themselves to this perfectly, and it is even more special to visit right now as, to get there, you drive past swathes of irises amongst the olive groves which he loved to paint when he lived locally.
The music is especially good this year, I felt, with a mix of opera, jazz, and Vivaldi: one poignant section illustrating his time at the asylum in Saint-Remy is accompanied by a husky blues version of ‘Please Don’t Le Me Be Misunderstood’. Perfect.
Each year, there is a long film (30 Mins.) this year Van Gogh, with a short film (15 mins), this year ‘Dreams of Japan’, a great choice as Van Gogh was influenced by Japanese art and imagery. It opens with a thrilling mix of moving Oriental fans, before shining images of geishas, samurai warriors and Japanese lanterns. Absolutely loved the bright blue waves by Hokusai crashing over the floor of the old quarry.
It’s popular. Over 513,000 people visited the venue for the recent Renaissance exhibition. But as it is such an enormous space (5000m2), it is never crowded.
It is cold though – even on the warmest day outside you need woollies in there. You can perch on blocks of stone, rather than standing for an hour, but bring a coat to cover your derriere!
Open daily: details here……………….https://www.carrieres-lumieres.com/en/whats-on
aixcentric 
I saw it yesterday and it was terrific!
Yes It is quite overwhelming….
Spectacular! Immersive doesn’t begin to describe it. Floor, Ceiling, and walls are all covered with moving images…sometimes it feels like water washing up around one’s shoes. Not to be missed, and the Japanese shorter film is an amazing accompaniment. Music is brilliantly paired. Be prepared for really cold–a winter jacket would be in order. Good for a day trip, with Les Baux and the sculpture garden; as an additional destination. We had a delicious lunch at Les Fleurs de Thym in the town nearby, Mausanne.
Yes it is an amazing experience. And thanks for the lunch tip. Mausanne and Mories are both enchanting little towns and a good spot for lunch. The day we visited, Les Baux was very busy with coach-parties and I imagine the cafés were v busy too.