Art enthusiasts and cyclists alike are welcomed to experience a dreamy, one-of-a-kind bike lane near Eindhoven, Netherlands. Developed by Daan Roosegaarde and Heijmans Infrastructure, the project fuses Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night with modern technology to create a solar powered glow-in-the-dark cycle path – in other words, a magical masterpiece.
The “Van Gogh-Roosegaarde” cycle avenue launched this week just outside the design capital of the southern Netherlands, which is fittingly near where Van Gogh himself lived for two years in the 1880s. With a coating material created by building company Heijmans, Roosegaarde assembled 50,000 fluorescent stones on the road, all of which feature glow-in-the-dark technology and solar-powered LED lights.
At 1 kilometer long, the beautiful stretch boasts swirling and otherworldly patterns, designed to bring to life The Starry Night. The oil on canvas piece was originally painted by Dutch native Van Gogh while locked in an asylum and portrays the view (with the mentionable addition of a romanticized village) from his east-facing window just before sunrise.
“I wanted to create a place that people will experience in a special way, the technical combined with experience, that’s what techno-poetry means to me,” said Roosegaarde in a statement.
Photo Courtesy of blazepress.com
This isn’t the first time Roosegaarde has collaborated with construction-services company Heijmans. The duo have also been working on a chain of “Smart Highways,” an interactive concept that combines light, energy, and road signs which react according to the present state of traffic.
The path’s opening marks the beginning of Van Gogh 2015, a year-long celebration held to honor the 125th anniversary of the artist’s death (1853-1890). Cultural events for the event will be held in the Netherlands, Belgium, and France.
The glowing road is part of the larger Van Gogh Cycle Route in North Brabant, the province in Netherlands where Van Gogh was born and raised. Altogether, the entire route extends 335 kilometers (208 miles) and splits into five individual round trips. Each trip can be cycled in a day and connects to numerous Van Gogh heritage locations in North Brabant.
In total, the project cost $870,000 and is part of a larger plan to turn the region into a playground for sustainable infrastructure.
