Van Gogh VR‑theatre debuts at Sala Prat del Roure in Escaldes‑Engordany

An immersive virtual‑reality production devoted to Vincent van Gogh opened at Sala Prat del Roure in Escaldes‑Engordany in late November 2025. The show combines live theatrical staging with individual VR headsets to place visitors inside scenes inspired by the artist’s life and paintings, translating his palettes, brushwork and emotional intensity into a multisensory experience.

Rather than presenting paintings in a conventional museum format, the production uses a hybrid model: actors, constructed sets and atmospheric effects work alongside digital reconstructions and imagined episodes drawn from Van Gogh’s biography and oeuvre. Audiences move through sequences that prioritise mood and sensation — colour, movement and psychological charge — over formal art‑historical explanation.

Sound design and tactile staging are used to heighten immersion, while the VR content recreates and reinterprets familiar motifs from Van Gogh’s work, inviting visitors to inhabit perspectives suggested by the canvases. Organisers say the aim is to evoke the feelings behind the paintings rather than to deliver a lecture, and they acknowledge the theatrical and experimental nature of the experience; a tongue‑in‑cheek remark about “losing an ear” signals the production’s willingness to mix humour with intensity.

The arrival of the show in Escaldes‑Engordany adds a technology‑led offering to the parish’s cultural calendar, aiming to engage both local audiences and visitors with a different way of encountering a well‑known artist. The hybrid format seeks to bridge performance and digital media, testing how VR can be integrated into live events without replacing the communal aspects of theatre.