Vincent van Gogh created art so far ahead of its time, that we still haven’t caught up.
On a recent trip to Pennsylvania, I had the good fortune of seeing two of van Gogh’s Sunflower paintings. The first, an original, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Two days later, I viewed a 3D-printed reproduction of a similar, yet different, Sunflower painting at the Van Gogh Museum Editions Pop-Up Tour at the King of Prussia Mall.
The compositions vary.
And the color palettes.
Sunflowers were a favorite subject of van Gogh and the docent at the Pop-Up exhibit told us he painted a total of twelve.
Here’s a website that shows all twelve and who holds them.
The docent also told us, Vincent only signed the paintings he was happy with. Something to which, I believe, most artists can relate.
This, my friends, is where I saw the 3D prints of Vincent van Gogh’s paintings.
We walked through the Lord & Taylor store to find it.
Nine Van Gogh Museum Reproductions on display.
Sunflowers is one.
Almond Blossom is another.
This picture was taken inside the exhibit.
Obviously, the insurance liability would be far too high to have original paintings on display is a shopping center so the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam partnered with FujiFilm Europe to make high-resolution scans of nine of their most important pieces.
The masterpieces were reproduced using state-of-the-art, 3D printing. Current technology does not allow for the 3D printing to reproduce color. It is, however, a perfect medium to create a textured surface.
Color is an additional, Giclee-type process that is vacuum sealed onto the 3D face.
The informative young docent at the exhibit said artists touch up the pieces, as needed, under the careful eye of the museum’s curators to best represent the original paintings.
I find this fascinating! Don’t you?
The museum explains the process.
I hope you stayed tuned through the part about recreating the frames.
What makes this important to artists working today?
Future applications in fine art reproductions.
Given a high-resolution scan, art can currently be printed very true to the original, on canvas or any number of different papers. The ink-jet process that gives us Giclées, produces such fantastic detail that I’ve mistaken copies for originals.
I’m excited about adding a true third dimension to the surface.
Vincent van Gogh is known for the copious amount of paint he layered onto his canvases. These van Gogh 3D prints are so remarkable because the texture is there. And the gallery style lighting picked up the extra dimension. Not sure if it’s allowed, but I ran my hand over the surface of one of the reproductions. Tactically, it was cool to the touch and I won’t apologize : )
As I said in my Instagram post below, I’m not sure how long this process will take to get to the market and when it will be affordable enough for less famous artists.
Let’s hope it’s sooner than later.
I’m excited!
Pin, if you like : )
Do you have a fine art reproduction that would be even better if printed using this 3D technology?
