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Cracking the real Da Vinci Code — what happens in the artist's brain?
September 07, 2006The brain of the artist is one of the most exciting workplaces, and now an art historian at the University of East Anglia has joined forces with a leading neuroscientist to unravel its complexities.
Creating a brand new academic discipline - neuroarthistory - Prof John Onians uses the results from new scanning techniques to answer questions such as:
- What happens in the brain of the modern artist as he or she works?
- What happened in the brain of an artistic genius like Leonardo Da Vinci?
- How do the brains of amateur and professional artists differ?
- Why do artists in certain times or places have certain visual tastes?
The new research will be presented at the BA Festival of Science in Norwich on Wednesday September 6.
Prof Onians, of UEA's School of World Art Studies, said: "Until now we had no way of knowing what went on inside the artist's brain - although Leonardo tried, using anatomy and observation. But now we are finally unlocking the door to this secret world.
"We can also use neuroarthistory much more widely, both to better understand the nature of familiar artistic phenomena such as style, and to crack so far intractable problems such as 'what is the origin of art?'"
There are many areas in which neuroarthistory puts the study of art on a more informed foundation. None is more striking than the first appearance of art in the Cave of Chauvet 32,000 years ago. No approach other than neuroarthistory can explain why this, the first art, is also the most naturalistic, capturing the mental and physical resources of bears and lions as if on a wildlife film.
Neuroarthistory can also explain why Florentine painters made more use of line and Venetian painters more of colour. The reason is that 'neural plasticity' ensured that passive exposure to different natural and manmade environments caused the formation of different visual preferences.
Similarly, the new discipline reveals that European artists such as Leonardo stood before vertical canvases while Chinese artists sat before flat sheets of silk or paper because 'mirror neurons' collectively affect artists' deportments.
"The most interesting aspect of neuroarthistory is the way it enables us to get inside the minds of people who either could not or did not write about their work," said Prof Onions. "We can understand much about the visual and motor preferences of people separated from us by thousands of miles or thousands of years.\\\
University of East Anglia
- What happened in the brain of an artistic genius like Leonardo Da Vinci?
- How do the brains of amateur and professional artists differ?
- Why do artists in certain times or places have certain visual tastes?
The new research will be presented at the BA Festival of Science in Norwich on Wednesday September 6.
Prof Onians, of UEA's School of World Art Studies, said: "Until now we had no way of knowing what went on inside the artist's brain - although Leonardo tried, using anatomy and observation. But now we are finally unlocking the door to this secret world.
"We can also use neuroarthistory much more widely, both to better understand the nature of familiar artistic phenomena such as style, and to crack so far intractable problems such as 'what is the origin of art?'"
There are many areas in which neuroarthistory puts the study of art on a more informed foundation. None is more striking than the first appearance of art in the Cave of Chauvet 32,000 years ago. No approach other than neuroarthistory can explain why this, the first art, is also the most naturalistic, capturing the mental and physical resources of bears and lions as if on a wildlife film.
Neuroarthistory can also explain why Florentine painters made more use of line and Venetian painters more of colour. The reason is that 'neural plasticity' ensured that passive exposure to different natural and manmade environments caused the formation of different visual preferences.
Similarly, the new discipline reveals that European artists such as Leonardo stood before vertical canvases while Chinese artists sat before flat sheets of silk or paper because 'mirror neurons' collectively affect artists' deportments.
"The most interesting aspect of neuroarthistory is the way it enables us to get inside the minds of people who either could not or did not write about their work," said Prof Onions. "We can understand much about the visual and motor preferences of people separated from us by thousands of miles or thousands of years.\\\
University of East Anglia
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Robotics insights through flies' eyes
Common and clumsy-looking, the blow fly is a true artist of flight. Suddenly changing direction, standing still in the air, spinning lightning-fast around its own axis, and making precise, pinpoint landings - all these maneuvers are simply a matter of course. Extremely quick eyesight helps to keep it from losing orientation as it races to and fro. Still, how does its tiny brain process the multiplicity of images and signals so rapidly and efficiently?
Metal composition hold key to identity of modern sculptures
How do you tell when, where and how a Picasso or a Matisse sculpture was cast?
Stealthy gene network makes brain tumors flourish
The brain tumor afflicting Sen. Edward Kennedy - a glioblastoma - is the most aggressive and wily form of brain cancer.
Mysterious disappearance of explorer Everett Ruess solved after 75 years
The mysterious disappearance of Everett Ruess, a 20-year-old artist, writer and footloose explorer who wandered the Southwest in the early 1930s on a burro and who has become a folk hero to many, has been solved with the help of University of Colorado at Boulder researchers and the National Geographic Society.
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