The Mind of Leonardo

On Friday, I headed to the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno to see the special exhibit 'The Mind of Leonardo: The Universal Genius at Work'. The main focus of the exhibit was a painting that da Vinci completed in his early twenties. The Annunciation is a gorgeous work that pictures the Archangel Gabriel announcing to Mary that she will mother the Christ Child. The true beauty of the painting is that the more you inspect its individual pieces the greater the whole becomes.

Having a limited knowledge of da Vinci's work, I was surprised to discover that he wasn't a prodigious painter, having only completed twelve paintings. Although I learned quite a bit about Da Vinci and his work through the exhibit, I can't shake the conclusion I came to after having viewed the complete exhibit: a high school project on Leonardo (if the students had a hefty budget for materials at their disposal). Harsh perhaps, but I remember thinking that I could find all the information presented in the exhibit on the Internet and given that the rest of the exhibit contained no originals I could just as well appreciate the drawings contained in the codex on my computer monitor as blown up and mounted on a museum wall. I will just have to visit Milan, Turin, Paris, London, and Madrid to view the actual manuscripts. Quick someone add that to my ever growing list of things to do and see in the world.

It must be said that the exhibit succeeded in it's aim of educating the public concerning Leonardo da Vinci impact on the worlds of art and science. With knowledge now at our fingertips it was inspiring to see someone adding to the bank of knowledge instead of just disseminating it.