The art world has seen its share of ups and downs and seen its share of changes over time. The COVID-19 pandemic shut down museums for a year or longer, and many auction houses that sell art had to rely solely on virtual settings. The rising tide of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) from 2020 into 2021 may have been one of the forms of art that allowed for sales in the millions and tens of millions of dollars. This is also allowing for more digital art offerings to become a normalized medium in museum settings.

Immersive art museums had already been attracting crowds before the pandemic in major cities around the world. And now there is a rise on the number of venues that NFTs are being sold and where are they are available to be viewed. Vincent Van Gogh is one of the world’s most famous artists and it seems clear that the recent wave of Immersive Van Gogh showings in major cities could help be a bridge that helps cross the physical world of art with the digital world of art in homes and businesses.

Sales of NFTs were mind-boggling earlier in 2021 with the news of a $60-plus million Beeple NFT. They have since been more available in the number of offerings and the prices realized have often been lower than what would have previously been expected.

Will the Immersive Van Gogh help soften up a vast number of collectors and investors who have both viewed NFTs with questions, disbelief or outright animosity?

Collectors Dashboard evaluates the collectibles sector as an alternative asset class that compete for the same funds that may have otherwise been invested in stocks, bonds and real estate. High-end collectibles also frequently have investors who only care about making a profit competing for the exact same asset that collectors may have a deep passion about. Collectors and investors alike should never assume that the value of any collectibles will rise over time — and some will lose value, and some may end up worthless and be destined for landfills.

The Immersive Van Gogh experience has been coming to more cities in America and it counts over 500,000 cubic feet of projections for a walking tour that lasts about an hour. The animations are much larger than Van Gogh’s real-life paintings and the tours also include social distancing spots in an effort to prevent overcrowding at a time when many people are still wearing masks and not interacting much in public yet.

It would be easy to point out the faults that this newer museum medium is not showing the actual art, but the benefits are obvious outside of the tens of millions it would cost to own a physical Van Gogh painting — no transportation and insurance costs, no risk of damage or vandalism, no risk of theft, and so on.

Still, even with the trends of NFTs having softened in recent months, there are at least some points to consider that the Immersive Van Gogh exhibit (along with other efforts, may be helping to lay a groundwork that could support a wider acceptance of NFTs. That does not automatically imply that it will increase the prices that individuals are willing to pay for the right to own or use NFTs.

Here are some examples with wider data showing that the digital experience is not being unilaterally shunned and may have a wider acceptance above and beyond just what the Immersive Van Gogh exhibits are offering.

More than a dozen U.S. cities have had or will have the Immersive Van Gogh with a rather steep $40 (and higher) ticket price — and even in April the AFAR magazine noted that the Los Angeles show was already sold out through mid-November 2021.

The ARTNET website noted that there are nearly 50 of Van Gogh’s exhibits happening in the U.S. alone, and that should translate to millions of visitors over the course of 2021.

The top 10 venues in NFT unit sales and dollars is listed for tracking on the website of NonFungible.com and the number changes daily. The total dollars from the top ten NFT selling sites of all-time was listed as more than $600 million as of June 28, 2021.

Another issue is to consider that art and collectibles does not just have to be made into digital NFTs. Some physical art is bring printed from NFTs — something that has also been seen in the sports card and non-sports card collectibles.

While the world becomes more and more accepting of digital art versus having to see physical art, there are still many questions regarding how much collectors and investors will pay for NFTs. Many people still pan NFTs and have accused the entire effort of being an outright bubble (or worse), but history seems to dictate that the more people are exposed to messages and mediums the more likely they are to accept them over time.