So, when I heard a super-size exhibition of van Gogh's art was being presented in a cold, dark, rock quarry in Les Baux de Provence, it struck me as a metaphor for his tenebrous moods and bouts of depression rather than a backdrop for his colorful masterpieces. This was something I had to see.

I drove the 51/2 miles from my hotel in Saint Remy to the village of Les Baux, in the hilly range of the Alpilles. Amid rock quarries (one still in use), I followed the signs to Cathedrale D'Images and discovered a large limestone structure cum art museum. Years of excavation had left the stone configured in a series of deep chambers with pillars and walls 20 to 60 feet tall - a perfect venue for a larger-than-life art show.

The bright sun reflected off the white stone walls, and I was relieved to be near the cool rock on a very warm day. As I stepped inside the dark quarry and waited for my eyes to adjust to the dim surroundings, I was swept up in a beautiful soundtrack of amplified classical music. A spectacle of light and color depicting a field of red poppies fluttered at my feet, projected from somewhere I could not detect. I felt as though I'd been transported onto the very canvas of Van Gogh's Field With Poppies.

I ventured deeper into the quarry and found dozens of images staring back at me from the stone walls. Self-portraits, landscapes and van Gogh's iconic painting, Bedroom at Arles, were projected on the natural surfaces towering above and around me.

Wisps of the mistral from Starry Night whirled by me, and boats on the sea at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer bobbed from one stone screen to the next. Was the chill I felt from the mistral? The sea? I was no longer certain it was just the dankness of the quarry.

The silhouettes of other visitors were dwarfed by the images. From across the quarry, I saw the shadow of a figure standing in front of van Gogh's Irises, another figure blending in with the black birds taking flight in Wheatfield With Crows, and another peering up at the white-powdered face of The Courtesan in Japanese costume. Sometimes the paintings hung still. Other times, they floated by on the strains of a sweet melody or were eerily magnified.

About 3,000 images were used in the production, beamed by 30 projectors onto the 43,000 square feet of limestone. A computer controlled the sequence, motion and lighting, and it was all in sync with powerful music.

As I drove back to Saint Remy, where Van Gogh had stayed in an asylum and painted its peaceful surroundings, I wondered whether the quarry workers ever imagined that what they left behind would become a canvas for such a great artist.