Leonardo da Vinci, Study of Two Warriors Heads for the Battle of Anghiari, c. 1504-5. Black chalk or charcoal, some traces of red chalk on paper. Google Art Project.
Wikimedia Commons.
Leonardo’s professional life reveals his genius for creating technologies of destruction.
Leonardo da Vinci, Landscape drawing for Santa Maria della Neve on 5th August 1473.
Wikimedia commons
His exquisite drawings suggest a particular depth of feeling for the natural world and he was attuned to the emotions of animals. Yet it seems that preservation of nature was not on Leonardo’s mind.
Leonardo da Vinci’s anatomical drawings and mechanical designs reveal his fascination with engineering, motion, anatomy and ageing.
Google Art Project, via Wikimedia Commons.
Leonardo’s interest in the human form and replicating human bodily movement foreshadow ideas present in modern robotics.
Emmanuel Macron has pulled his ambassador out of Rome in a rage.
EPA/Benoit Tessier
When two founding partners of the European Union are at loggerheads, something is very wrong.
Is there no end to his talent? A self-portrait of Leoardo da Vinci.
Painter, sculptor, inventor, engineer, mathematician, anatomist: has anyone ever surpassed the genius of Leonardo?
Ubisoft
The story of this video game speaks to what seems a powerful political moment, of an American nation literally at war with itself.
Two works by Duchamp. L.H.O.O.Q. (1919) and L.H.O.O.Q. Rasée (1965).
Some classic tales about the way artists can mess with your mind.
Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi recently sold for US$450 million.
AAP
Research shows paintings aren’t always good investments. Sky-high prices paid for high-end art are likely due to other factors.
h.
Salvator Mundi is the most expensive painting ever to be sold. It remains to be seen who bought it and where it will be kept.
Pilgrims at Lourdes.
Nick Thompson
Films motivate people to travel to locations previously unknown. In the process, tourists become a lot like spiritual seekers.
Out of all these ideas, will one rise to the top?
KlingSup/Shutterstock.com
We don’t know much about the origins of most human achievements – scientific and otherwise. Like evolution, does progress occur as random insights are selected for or against?
Barack Obama signs at his desk.
Pete Souza
People who have an extreme preference for using their right hand may be worse at maths, according to new research.
Torro!
Giovanni Cancemi
Welcome to the world of cloths and materials that change depending on your mood.
hidesy/Shutterstock.com
In future, we’ll all need to be a little more like Leonardo da Vinci.
Before LOLcats, there were LEOcats.
© Science Museum
He may not have invented the helicopter, but the real man is more than worthy of the myth.
Taken from Daniël Heinsius’ Emblemata Amatoria (1601)
Wikimedia
From princes to pornographers, emblem books wowed 16th century Europe with their coded meditations on the meaning of life.
Paul Hagon
People need to be taught how to behave around art.
Picasso’s The Young Ladies of Avignon (1907) scored extremely high when entered into the creativity algorithm.
Wally Gobetz/flickr
Humans are no longer the only judges of creativity. Computers can perform the same task – and may even be more objective.
One design that didn’t take off.
tom-margie
Where do inventions come from? There’s no magic formula, but there are ways to improve your creativity. One method is to look at nature. Some call this activity bionics, others call it biomimetics. Whatever…