OK, so you’re driving down the road in Manitoba. Suddenly you look up and you see an 80-foot-tall easel with a 20 by 32-foot painting that appears to be Vincent Van Gogh’s iconic Sunflowers. Chances are you’re either having psychedelic flashback — the ’60s were awesome, man — or if you happen to be about 70 miles south of Winnipeg, you’re probably not hallucinating.
This enormous painting is actually part of a series of seven installations created in 1991 as part of the Van Gogh Project by Canadian artist Cameron Cross. Understandably, the painting has drawn considerable attention from visitors, not to mention art enthusiasts around the world. The Van Gogh Project, of which this installation is a part, aims to create giant reproductions of Van Gogh’s iconic painting in different locations around the globe. The Manitoba installation is one of seven locations selected for the project.
The original Sunflowers painting is currently part of the collection at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Cross selected a public domain image of this painting to create this Brobdingnagian reproduction, which he then mounted on an 80-foot steel easel for prominent display in Altona, the artist’s hometown.
Vincent by Loozrboy licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0
What about those famously harsh Canada winters? Well, the giant Van Gogh painting has been given a protective coating to protect it from the weather. According to a news report from 2017, the painting was hung back up after undergoing restoration work, during which a new protective coat was applied. So, rest assured, this Van Gogh is built to last.
Interestingly, Manitoba was also recently visited by a touring production of “Beyond Van Gogh,” an immersive experience featuring digital projections of Van Gogh’s art. Lot of art fans in the Great White North, eh?
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