Van Gogh’s world has always felt like a universe unto itself. Colors and textures braid together; the yellow of sunflowers, the depth of midnight blue, streets where light seems to dance. Now that universe can be stepped into in Istanbul: the digital exhibition “Van Gogh: In Pursuit of Light” opens at the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality’s Digital Experience Center—an invitation to wander inside his radiance.
From the threshold you understand: this is no ordinary show. You enter an interactive projection hall. Van Gogh’s paintings awaken at architectural scale; colors shift before your eyes, and the light bends with your footsteps. It is as if the canvas watches you—and then quietly draws you in.
In the next room, a VR headset settles you into the painter’s inner weather. You walk among sunflowers; wind seems to skim your hair; fields glow a living yellow. Each brushstroke feels like a touch, bringing you a little nearer to Van Gogh’s pulse.
Then, in the AR room, the dialogue begins. At your fingertips colors stir; lights dance; the paintings seem to draw breath. Hints of the artist’s subconscious, his early years, and his fervent periods surface in corners and thresholds—each nook a small story, each story a path.
Across four distinct rooms and a digital corridor, the exhibition offers a layered passage through the artist’s inner landscape. Digital craft lets you feel Van Gogh’s mastery of light and color as never before; you do not simply look—you move, you touch, and you hear the rhythm of color in your chest.
Visiting hours are 10:00–19:00 every day except Monday. Tickets are available via Passo online or at the venue box office. Domestic full ticket: 250 TL; discounted: 90 TL (students, teachers, İBB staff, prosecutors, judges, soldiers and police must present ID); foreign visitor ticket: 900 TL. Do check prices before you go.
When you step back into the city, you carry more than a visual feast: a quiet spark, a lift of the spirit. In the heart of Istanbul, this passage lit by Van Gogh reminds us again of how art touches what we live with but cannot name.
“Journey of Light and Color” is for anyone who wants to feel the spell of art—and to see how the digital can meet the hand of a painter. For anyone ready to be carried by color and light, to make a brief but vivid journey through Van Gogh’s world, Istanbul’s doors are open.
Ece Dikmenli
Yücel Cultural Foundation