Vincent Van Gogh is Alive!
Door kunstvlo op October 15, 2009 22:31. 19 comments
In the few weeks I have been trying to shape the Edosia blog it has surprised me how difficult it is to find good examples of ‘pedagogical’ sites.
For artists and arts organizations, the main purpose of being online is creating an awareness about themselves. It is all about communication and promotion. So it seems.
Although I have already come across a lot of inspiring cases, I was getting a bit disencouraged. How are websites and other interfaces used to really engage with audiences? What triggers visitors to stay tuned, to participate: to interact?
The blogspot the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has recently created, made me shiver. Instantly I knew this was a good case. Finally!
The Van Gogh Museum not only owns a major collection of paintings and other work by Vincent Van Gogh. It is also responsible for the enormous collection of letters Vincent and his brother Theo wrote to each other. Several researchers have been studying the correspondence for decades which has resulted in a shelve of large books.
Research is one thing. Disclosing it another. Who reads it? Probably not a lot of people.
The blogspot is the perfect solution to this problem. With the blog as format, the museum has brought Vincent back to life. You can read small pieces from his letters (as if he were blogging them himself) with excellent references (links) to works from the museum collection. For example, on the 9th of October he talks about making a painting about his mother and links to the eventual painting now hanging in the museum.
All very poetic. But let’s not forget: only possible thanks to the massive pile of research done over the years…