The folks at Artnet News recently wrote there “has never been a phenomenon like the immersive van Gogh craze currently sweeping America.”

Someone hold Frida Kahlo’s paint brush!

On the heels of their Immersive Van Gogh temporary attraction, (now in 15 cities, including in the Spring Branch part of Houston), Lighthouse Immersive and Impact Museums have set their sights on the art and life of Kahlo, the late, beloved 20th Century Mexican artist best known for compelling self-portraits and radiant paintings inspired by her life in her native country.

And the companies are returning to the Spring Branch Management District to feature the iconic, heavy-eye-browed artist, drawing daily visitors from all over greater Houston and beyond — thus presenting an opportunity for area businesses to capitalize on the increase in visitors.

Tickets for Frida: Immersive Dream are now on sale. The exhibit will be shown in the same location as Immersive Van Gogh, 1314 Brittmoore Rd.

Immersive Van Gogh closes Feb. 6, 2022. Then Frida arrives Feb. 17, 2022, and remains through April 17. Ticket prices start at $39.99 with timed and flexible visiting options available.

Similar to the van Gogh version, the Kahlo exhibition features some of the artist’s best-known works “brought to life” by Italian video artist Massimiliano Siccardi, again accompanied by composer Luca Longobardi’s resonant score.

The venue is a 16,500-square-foot converted warehouse named Lighthouse Artspace Houston after Lighthouse Immersive, the Canadian company producing the van Gogh and Frida exhibits. It’s between The Cannon, a flexible workspace and startup community, and The Powder Keg Houston, an open-air bar with food trucks, sand volleyball courts and a dog park.

The Powder Keg has cross-promoted with the van Gogh exhibit on social media. It’s an easy place to stop and have a drink and relax before or after your immersive experience.

At least five companies are battling to dominate the immersive van Gogh field across the country. Two are competing exhibits right here in Houston and, more specifically, both in the Spring Branch District.

Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience — the product of a partnership between producer Exhibition Hub and entertainment platform Fever — is at The Marq’E Entertainment Center through December. The Marq’E, with restaurants, bars and other entertainment experiences in the same strip, offers a chance to make a day of the art experience.

Diana Rayzman, on behalf of Immersive Van Gogh, said the growing Spring Branch District area was a draw for the exhibit:

 “There is a lot of development happening in the area and that was very appealing to us.”

In addition to Houston, Frida: Immersive Dream will be shown in six other cities in Spring 2022, starting with Dallas on Feb. 3.

Kahlo was born in 1907 in Mexico City. After surviving polio at age 6, she was involved in a horrific accident at 18, when the bus she was riding in was struck by a streetcar, leaving her with a broken spinal column along with myriad other injuries. Bedridden, Kahlo was encouraged by her parents to take up painting to pass the time. Kahlo stands today as an emblematic figure — a symbol of female empowerment, individual courage and Mexican pride.

Kahlo’s popularity has grown exponentially in recent decades and has been prominently featured in museums worldwide. Interest in the painter and her works was bolstered by several recently published biographies and Julie Taymor’s Academy Award-nominated film Frida, starring Salma Hayek.

The announcement of Frida: Immersive Dream comes after a recent record-breaking sale of Kahlo’s 1949 painting “Diego and I,” which sold at Sotheby’s on Nov. 16 for $34.9 million dollars. (She was married to the late painter/muralist Diego Rivera).

“Diego and I” will be among the works featured in the immersive experience, intermingled with an assortment of photographs, drawings and iconography.

“The success of Immersive Van Gogh has demonstrated that audiences are excited to experience art in a new way,” said Lighthouse Immersive Producer Corey Ross.

No word yet on which painter known worldwide will be featured locally once the Frida Kahlo exhibit closes. Based on recent history, though, they will want to be immersed somewhere in the Spring Branch District.

— Dorothy Puch Lillig

Heading to one of the immersive art experiences open in, or coming soon, to the Spring Branch District? Here are some places nearby to stop for lunch, dinner or just a snack or drink: https://sbmd.org/eat-local/