I’m trying to make an effort to explore more of New England, and a recent daytrip took Josh and I to Springfield, MA where we saw Van Gogh for All at the D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts.
I actually stayed in Springfield for two nights a couple of weeks before this day trip for a conference with my day job, but because I was at the conference had limited time to visit most of the area. (We did attend an event at the Basketball Hall of Fame, but Josh would love to go there anyway so I knew I’d be back for that!)
On our last daytrip to the area, we really planned the day around visiting the Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum and the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden. I did not even realize it before we arrived, but the Dr. Seuss Museum is part of the Springfield Museums, a group of five museums located around a quadrangle in the center of town that are all included in the same admission.
Visiting the Springfield Museums
Admission for adults to the Springfield Museums is $25, which truly feels like an excellent value for all that is included. Even if you plan your day around on specific museum or exhibit (like we did), it’s well worth it to stay longer and visit more of the museums if time allows. (For us, we really just focused on Dr. Seuss and the art museum for this visit because Maui’s insulin schedule doesn’t let us be away from home for too long without more advance planning.)
The museums have all the regular discounts, but if you live close by, it could definitely make sense to get a membership here! We arrived around noon and spent most of the day at the Dr. Seuss Museum and the Van Gogh exhibit, and just quickly breezed through the Springfield Science Museum. We both agreed, though, that we could easily spend most of the day at just one museum, so if we lived closer a membership would definitely make the most sense.
Parking and getting to the museum was also super easy. The Museums have a free parking lot, and if it’s full there are several parking garages located nearby along with local bus service. Springfield’s downtown is also very walkable, so if you are staying downtown or doing other things in the area, you may be able to just walk over to the Museums.
Van Gogh for All
The Van Gogh for All exhibit was so much fun and a nice complement to the Van Gogh: The Roulin Family Portraits exhibit that is currently on view at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Rather than showcasing actual works by Van Gogh, this exhibition immerses visitors in the artist’s world through interactive experiences, full-sized photo ops, and more.
One of our favorite parts of the exhibit was the hallway before the main galleries that was lined with copies of famous pieces by Van Gogh with smaller tactile versions of the paintings below so visitors could feel them. Obviously that’s something you can’t typically do in an art museum (save for the museums that are adding pieces like this to provide an experience for visitors with visual impairments) so it was interesting to “feel” the paintings to begin with and to learn more about Van Gogh’s technique this way.
The photo ops around the exhibit were also really fun. They actually reminded me a lot of some of the ones you can see in Walt Disney World during the EPCOT International Festival of the Arts. In EPCOT the photo ops are fun but often provided with little context as just an extra thing to do during the festival, so it was nice at this exhibit being able to step into the different scenes but also read more about them at the museum.
I didn’t take photos of some of the other large set pieces that were more interactive because kids were using them during our visit, but that leads me to the thought that this exhibit is a great way to introduce kids to Van Gogh and to just bring them to an art museum where it will really feel like there is something for them to do. Art museums can be challenging for kids, but where this museum is not too large to begin with and this exhibit offers several different ways to interact with the art, the Van Gogh for All exhibit could easily appeal to all ages.
One of the more interactive pieces of the exhibit was a 12-foot-wide, interactive version of The Starry Night painting. Rather than the immersive art exhibits you see traveling around the country these days where paintings are just projected on the walls all around you, this one actually let you control the movement, which really gave a whole new perspective to the iconic painting.
Speaking of those projection-style exhibits, I was sort of comparing this to them as I walked through. They’re both ways of experiencing and learning more about art without simply viewing the original paintings. Having only been to one of those immersive projection shows in the past, I have to say I much preferred the style of this exhibit (maybe this is similar to a CGI vs. practical effects discussion in film).
The immersive projection shows are fun, but with multiple different ways to interact with the art and the fact that Van Gogh for All was included in a $25 admission that covered this exhibit + FIVE museums, I don’t see how there’s any question as to which one I would recommend.
Plan Your Visit to Van Gogh for All
If you’ll be in the Springfield area (or are up for an overnight or daytrip from another New England locale this year), the Van Gogh for All exhibit will be on view through September 14, 2025. We didn’t make it to a showing, but if time allows, there is a Van Gogh planetarium show running at the Springfield Science Museum that would be a nice add-on to your visit as well.
For the Van Gogh exhibit specifically, I would plan for at least an hour if you are someone who likes to read most/all of the exhibit labels and really spend some time taking in the details on art when you go to a museum. If you’re more of a casual visitor, you could probably get through the exhibit in 30 minutes.
That being said, there is a lot to see at the Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts, so I would recommend building in some time to explore the rest of the museum as well. Then of course there are the other museums in the Springfield Museums complex:
- The Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum
- Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden
- George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum
- Springfield Science Museum
- Lyman and Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History
Tickets are available to purchase in person at the Museums’ welcome center, but advance purchase is recommended (and can save you time in line if it’s a busy day). You can purchase advance tickets here.
