Leonardo da Vinci is not just a brilliant artist but also a scientist, inventor, sculptor, musician, engineer, mathematician, and architect among many others.
I have to warn you, this is a very long post but if you decide to continue reading, I will walk you through the exhibit. :) Ready? Let's go inside..
Upon entering, you'd be greeted with his works as The Father of Flight
"For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth turned skyward, for there you have been and there you will long to return." - Leonardo da Vinci
Da Vinci is mesmerized with the idea of man flying like birds. Because of this, he initially worked on flying machines based on wing movements. Hello, biomimicry! :)) Most of his ideas, which are sketched in his notebooks - which by the way are written in mirror image - foreshadowed the modern parachutes and helicopters.
The displays in the Mind Museum includes 3D models of his inventions, including the Aerial Screw - the early concept of the helicopter propellers we have today.
The 3D Model of the Aerial Screw
Continuing to the next area, Military Engineering, you'll see this bridge...
What's so amazing with this? Leonardo (feeling close) designed this bridge for the military troops, ideally made with logs...alone! No nails, no rope. The logs are arranged in such a way that the more weight it supports, the stronger it becomes! Wooden sticks are provided to give you the chance to try the design yourself. Interactive display - how cool is that? :)
Da Vinci expressed his hate towards violence but he ironically designed numerous weapons of war. This is because most of his wealthy patrons back then needed weapons more than paintings. There's this portable 'gun' that discharges 11 shots at a time. Another is a cannon which uses steam instead of gunpowder to fire the cannon ball.
One concept that the genius already envisioned several years before the actual invention is what we call today as the military tank. The one he drew is made of wood and a lot of gears, powered by 3 men for the movement and by another man for the shooting. It looks like a hut but don't let its look deceive you because it's deadly!
Even in the Aquatic and Hydraulics section, you'll still see how war freaks people are before. haha. Leonardo da Vinci understood a submarine to be "a ship to sink another ship". He had designed a submarine that would attack ships by breaching the hull underwater causing it to sink.
This looks creepy but this is Leonardo's SCUBA (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) that would allow individuals to repair ships underwater and also to attack enemy ships unnoticed.
Within the same area as the aquatic displays is the most photographed interactive display of the exhibit - The 8-Sided Mirror Room - where you can see yourself on all sides. That's why I took the liberty of taking my OOTD here. Actually, you'll hardly appreciate this room if the photo is taken from the outside. It's not a vain photo after all, it is for your sake. haha. palusot!
"The eye, the function of which is so clearly demonstrated by experience, has been defined until the present time by a great many authors in a certain way - but I find it to be completely different." - Leonardo da Vinci
Da Vinci was illiterate which hindered his study of optics but his observations and experiments led him to important conclusions. He was probably the first to write about stereoscopic vision - the way eyes work together to gather information about an object.
Our genius here wasn't just into visuals, he's into music as well. He had a spectacular production called 'Masque of the Planets', which impressed the Duke, Ludovico il Moro, by his ability to direct court performances. He also made improvements to some musical instruments including the portable piano, the double flute and the mechanical drum.
"The poet ranks far below the painter in the representation of visible things, and far below the musician in that of invisible things." - Leonardo da Vinci
On to the next area, Renaissance Art..
"Art is never finished, only abandoned." - Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci started as an apprentice. Being someone's apprentice teaches us a lot of things. However, in Leonardo's case, he was the one who introduced a technique to his boss. Artists before mixed hue powders with egg, a technique called tempera. It was Leonardo who used oil instead of eggs, influenced by the technique used in a different part of Europe. The effect was so astonishing that Leonardo's boss acknowledged him and never commissioned a painting again.
Of all Da Vinci's works, two are most celebrated - the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper. These paintings each has its own story and set of secrets. In the exhibit, some of these secrets were revealed.
I'll spill you some..
* The colors we admire in Mona Lisa are the colors of the originals, as well as superimposed infrared on the image.
* Mona Lisa indeed have eyebrows and eyelashes. It's just that some sections of the painting have become transparent overtime.
* Leonardo spent days watching the crowd, looking for the right facial expressions to depict varying degrees of outrage, shock and questioning for the Last Supper.
Continuing the journey, you'll see the codices - collections of handwritten manuscripts. I told you Leonardo used the "mirror image writing" which made some experts speculate that he had done this to keep his works private, because he knew how to write the right way..
There are over 6000 pages that survived to this day, that's 10 known codices, presently displayed in different museums, archives or libraries around the world.
Some of these pages are sketches of the human anatomy. How is this possible? Well, he was given permission to dissect human corpses at hospitals. He had made more than 200 drawings after dissecting 30 corpses and prepared to publish a theoretical work together with someone. Unfortunately, this book, under the heading Treatise on Paiting is published long after his death.
Da Vinci was the first naturalist who turned to mathematics for a key to the understanding of anatomy. He showed this through his illustration of the Vitruvian Man, which includes a lot of proportional representations.
One amazing feature of the exhibit is the fact that it has a lot of interactive displays. You get to test Leonardo's concept about physics through models.
By this time, you're back to where you entered and you'll see different souvenir items so you could bring home your Da Vinci experience..
There are a lot more amazing exhibits in the museum, which I have to leave out in this post, so you'd have to check on them yourselves! The awe of personally being in this exhibit makes visiting so much worth it. :)
Da Vinci - The Genius
The Mind Museum, Philippines
September 1 - November 30, 2013
* facts stated in this post are from the exhibit write-ups, the 50-minute audio-visual presentation, and/or the exhibit's official program.
Angel <3
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