STARRY NIGHT UNDER AUSTIN SKIES

Completely immersive Van Gogh art experience debuts under Austin's starry skies

UPDATE: Due to its popularity, “Beyond Van Gogh: An Immersive Experience” has been extended at Circuit of the Americas through Sunday, September 5. Tickets are available at vangoghaustin.com.

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If you’ve ever dreamed of immersing yourself in the magnificent masterpieces of Vincent Van Gogh, your dreams are about to come true.

Beginning June 18 and running through August 8, Austin’s Circuit of The Americas will host a limited-engagement run of “Beyond Van Gogh: An Immersive Experience,” a three-dimensional, multi-media exhibition featuring more than 300 pieces of Van Gogh’s treasured works.

The mesmerizing event, which uses state-of-the-art projection technology developed by AV designers, will employ Van Gogh’s words, thoughts, and dreams to weave a narrative about the artists’ prolific body of work. Exhibition visitors can move through the scene, experiencing light and color projections that dance and refocus into Van Gogh’s well-known flowers, cafés, and landscapes, revealing his famous works like The Starry Night, Sunflowers, and Café Terrace at Night. And further heightening the experience, a symphonic score will play as visitors work their way through the exhibit.

Created by French-Canadian creative director Mathieu St-Arnaud and his team at Montreal entertainment creation company Normal Studio, the immersive show will run for a short time in Austin before moving to other engagements across the country.

Immersive art experiences have become all the rage, particularly during the coronavirus pandemic, as traditional art museum visits have dipped. Another such Van Gogh show, “Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience” from entertainment producer Exhibition Hub and discovery platform Fever will begin touring in select Texas cities later this year, though Austin isn’t on that list. Additionally, a similar exhibition, titled “Immersive Van Gogh,” will run in Dallas from June to September.

Tickets to “Beyond Van Gogh: An Immersive Experience,” at COTA are currently available, with prices spanning from the $30 range to the $90 range, and art lovers who purchase tickets by April 11 using the code “Beyond” will receive a 10 percent discount on regular timed-entry tickets.

Get lost in The Starry Night without ever leaving Austin.

Beyond Van Gogh/Instagram

Get lost in The Starry Night without ever leaving Austin.

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New

Historic Austin museum will close for more than a year for restoration

Photo courtesy of the City of Austin

The Elisabet Ney Museum will close at the end of 2024 and reopen in mid-2026.

Every building needs some maintenance here or there, and the historic Elisabet Ney Museum needs some extra-special care. Formerly the art studio and residence of its namesake, it's been standing since 1892. It'll spend 2025 in relative solitude, as it undergoes renovation for a year and a half with no visitors allowed.

The museum will close to the public December 30, 2024, and open again in the summer of 2026 if all goes according to plan, a news release from the City of Austin shares. It'll be a quiet period compared to the 21,000 people visiting from around the world each year.

According to a museum overview on the city's website, Elisabet Ney, a European portrait sculptor, bought the property and called her new studio Formosa. She worked on sculptures depicting important Texans like Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston, and collected works of European contemporaries.

The building at 304 East 44th St. includes 3,700 square feet of museum space, which was converted by Ney's friends after her death in 1907. It retains its unique look that juxtaposes a Neo-Classical main studio from 1892 with a later addition from 1902 including a tower for her husband, Edmund, to write in. It is also on 2.5 acres of land, which has largely been restored to its natural state with native species.

A press release lists these tasks (verbatim) within the scope of the new work, referred to as the Capital Improvement Project (CIP):

Restoration of original exterior wood doors and windows
Upgrades and replacement of the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system
Replacement of the exhibit and general lighting systems
Repairs to the roof, masonry, plumbing, and interior finishes.

There will also be work to do outside of the building. Workers will replace the pedestrian bridge across Waller Creek, stabilize a 20,000-square-foot portion of the bank, and make the grounds more accessible by adding new pathways.

Funding comes from several sources, according to a release: "the 2012 Bond, Proposition 14, the Parkland Dedication Fund, the Historic Preservation Fund, Partners in Preservation through the National Trust, and contributions from the Friends of the Elisabet Ney Museum."

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