Leonardo da Vinci interactive experience

Exhibition concept for the National Gallery

The concept behind Leonardo da Vinci interactive experience was to allow visitors to participate in da Vinci’s own journey as an artist and scientist, evolving with him as his aesthetic and experiential inquiries into the world greatly expanded his capacities. 

Because the Virgin of the Rocks painting provides a unique lens into Leonardo da Vinci’s intellectual preoccupations, as well as his development of cornerstone techniques of High Renaissance Art, we would leverage that single work to explore the idea of how Leonardo learned how to see, allowing him to create such a masterwork.

This position also invited the visitor into an active role, one where they would be almost taught to see how the artist did, witnessing as his ideas and investigations came to life in front of them. 

Leonardo’s scientific and artistic explorations of light had a great impact on the Virgin of the Rocks. His exploration of light enabled him to further develop artistic techniques that are cornerstones of Renaissance art: Chiaroscuro and Sfumato. Additionally, his explorations of light allowed him to capture in his paintings, the atmosphere of the natural world.

Visitors would explore Leonardo da Vinci’s artistic and scientific pursuits through his notebooks and sketches, and see how these techniques were applied to his paintings.