Abby, Barry, and I drove from Abby’s apartment in Shoreline to Northgate to take the Light Rail south to the Stadium station. From there we walked to the Van Gogh Immersive Experience. Have I mentioned how much we love using the Light Rail system!?! It is SO much better than the stress of driving into the city, and paying $$$ for several hours of parking! We applied online last weekend for senior cards (eligible for reduced fares), but they didn’t arrive in time for today’s excursion. We will have them to use next time. š And by the time we return there will be additional stations further north and further south! Sweet!
Today was National Sunflower Day, but it certainly wasn’t a sunny day! We each received a beautiful sunflower, and told that everything in the gift shop that includes a sunflower was 25% off!
I enjoyed quotes from Vincent throughout, but this one made me chuckle. He is so right. Most people say “Van Go”, but it is more correctly pronounced: “Vahn Goff”.
Both of these are so true!
Van Gogh created more than 900 paintings. He only sold a couple of paintings, but he often traded work with other artists or in his younger years he often exchanged his work for food or paint supplies. His work was not popular till years following his death.
I found the bust of Vincent to be mesmerizing. I think you will too! …
Next, I enjoyed a small alcove where I experienced a number of Vincent’s collection of vase with flowers. These were some of my favorites.
It was fun to watch each painting morph into a different vase/flowers painting. The following are a few examples.
Sunflowers – While among Vincent’s most famous paintings, it is not widely known that “Sunflowers” does not refer to a single painting. There are TWO series of Sunflowers on canvas that consist of a total of 11 paintings. The more famous series is found at the National Gallery of London.
Van Gogh created his first series in Paris in 1887, while living with his brother Theo. This series consisted of 4 canvases that portrayed sunflowers on a table.
The next couple years Vincent was dedicated to his second series. This more famous series consisted of seven canvases depicting sunflowers in a vase.
Other famous, commonly recognizable paintings of Van Gogh:
3D – displays
Vincent never traveled to Japan, but he was quite taken with their radically different artistic style. He took inspiration from the woodblock prints and paintings of several Japanese artists. He envied the extreme sharpness in their work. How they could create a person with a few confident strokes.
This was a cool display. Each portion of the “picture” is suspended from above. The main figure is multiple sections that are hung with various ones forward or backward from each other so that when you step back to a marked spot on the floor, and from there look directly at the art piece, everything “falls” into place proportionally to create a beautiful scene/picture.
Van Gogh’s bedroom in Arles, France
So far we’ve enjoyed this exhibit, but we were expecting to enter a room where you feel you are in one of Van Gogh’s painting. The next doorway we went through was exactly that. It was SO cool!
Vincent and his trains…
“Almond Blossoms”
Vincent’s Sunflowers…
It was so cool to experience the movement of the sky/stars that Van Gogh wanted us to feel from his painting style.
The moving waves in this next section were cool to experience all around us. The distinctive Japanese woodblock style that fascinated Vincent was evident in these waves.
Tree Roots – final paintings
We exited into this “Create your own Van Gogh” area. Abby and I enjoyed stopping to color. Abby added her finished “Irises” to the community board. I brought my “Sunflowers” home.
We thought this was the last of the museum experience, but WAIT – there’s more…
For an additional $5 per person we were able to experience a virtual reality 3-d experience with Van Gogh’s work. I had my doubts, but it was the perfect ending to the immersive experience. You are truly transported into the scenes and can look all around! We each loved it! This was the BEST part!
We walked back up to the stadium area.
Since I was cold, we stopped in the Seahawks Team store, and Abby helped me find the perfect zip sweatshirt. (You’ll see it later in this blog.) We continued on our way to explore Pioneer Square where we came upon this Seattle Firefighters Memorial with life-size figures.
Smith Tower. I took this picture because I remember bringing my Aunt Judy and Uncle Tom here when they came out to visit. The time together with them was very special. It gave me a connection to my dad’s family that I never had before.
When I realized I left my water bottle (and Sunflower) at the Seahawks Team Store, Abby and I headed back to the store while Barry went to Burb’s (near the Lumen Field area), to get a table for us to have lunch. We were pleasantly surprised that we could get a simple cheeseburger so close to the stadiums for $5! They weren’t huge, and nor frills, but they were perfect for us.
On our way to the nearest light rail in the International District, a “parade” of people all dressed up came up along the street we were on. We weren’t sure what the purpose was till the horse-drawn carriage came at the end. It was evidently a wedding celebration.
After the couple shared their first dance everyone joined in with a special appearance of the Blue Angels! How lucky we were to be here!
King Street Train Station
International District Light Rail Station. Origami art on the track level.
(GREAT Seahawks zip sweatshirt, right!?! Thank you, Abby for helping me find it. š )
We had a great day in Seattle. We LOVED using the Seattle Light Rail. It eliminates all the stress and inconvenience involved with driving and parking in the city. It also provides flexibility to explore another area as we did today. We ordered our Senior Metro Cards, and look forward to using them the next time we visit.
Thanks so much for your blog. I love being able to follow your travels. š
Always good to hear. I’m finding there are people enjoying many as their virtual trips. š