The most comprehensive traveling exhibition ever compiled on Leonardo da Vinci, “Da Vinci – The Genius,” on display from June 25 to Jan. 8, 2017
OKLAHOMA CITY (June 6, 2016) — Beginning June 25, Science Museum Oklahoma will present “Da Vinci – The Genius,” the most comprehensive exploration of Leonardo da Vinci’s work ever created. The interactive experience will immerse guests in da Vinci’s timeless brilliance through full-scale interpretations of the mastermind’s inventions and unparalleled studies of his iconic art.
“Da Vinci – The Genius” demonstrates the full scope of da Vinci’s remarkable genius as an inventor, artist, anatomist, sculptor, engineer, musician and architect. Guests will enjoy life-size machine inventions, entertaining animations of da Vinci’s most notable Renaissance works and an eye-opening, in-depth analysis of his most famous piece, “Mona Lisa.” Visitors will be able to push, pull, crank and interact with many of these exhibits for a hands-on understanding of the scientific principles behind them.
“This exhibition was created by Grande Exhibitions to celebrate Leonardo da Vinci’s great works and place them all together in a single location where people can come and marvel at the brilliance of this great mind,” said Clint Stone, director of education and training at Science Museum Oklahoma. “We’re delighted to bring this exceptional project to Oklahoma City. ‘Da Vinci – The Genius’ offers visitors of all ages and backgrounds an entertaining, educational and enlightening experience, whether they are art and history aficionados or seeing da Vinci’s work for the first time.”
Created with the assistance of the Museo Leonardo da Vinci – Rome, Italy, and a number of experts in Italy and France, “Da Vinci – The Genius” celebrates one of the most revered and dynamic minds of all time. The exhibition features 17 compelling themed areas of da Vinci’s work, offering visitors an unmatched look inside the mind of the ultimate Renaissance man who laid the groundwork for some of modern society’s most impactful inventions, such as the helicopter, airplane, automobile, submarine, parachute and bicycle.
All of the inventions brought to life for “Da Vinci – The Genius” were crafted by Italian artisans, many using the same techniques and materials from the Renaissance period. Scouring more than 6,000 pages from da Vinci’s personal notebooks, the artisans deciphered hidden clues, intentional mistakes and mirror-image writing that da Vinci employed to keep his works top secret.
Exclusive and integral to Da Vinci – The Genius is the illustrious Secrets of Mona Lisa exhibit, featuring the findings of French scientific engineer and examiner of fine art, Pascal Cotte. Granted unprecedented access to “Mona Lisa” by the French government and the Louvre Museum in 2004, Cotte was permitted to take “Mona Lisa” off the wall and out of its frame to conduct a scientific analysis that revealed dozens of secrets about history’s most elusive art piece, all verified and approved by the Louvre Museum curators. In the following years Cotte developed new algorithms and software to analyze the data, and in December 2015 released new discoveries, again verified by the Louvre, revealing the true identity of Mona Lisa.
The exhibit presents the full fruits of Cotte’s research: 25 of his most compelling initial revelations, illustrated by 40 super-magnified, high-resolution images exploring every aspect of the work, as well as his new, ground-breaking discoveries about what lies both above and beneath the Portrait of Lisa Gherardini – discoveries that mark the beginning of a new phase in the painting’s history, and perhaps even in art history itself.
Visitors to “Da Vinci – The Genius” are invited to embrace the history, theory and objective behind da Vinci’s designs and artworks through engaging and entertaining technologies. Other highlights include reproductions of numerous works of art, amazing anatomical sketches, the preparatory drawings of the “Anghiari Battle,” and educational animation presentations of “The Last Supper,” the “Vitruvian Man,” and other rarely seen perspectives on famous works. Guests also will enjoy a glimpse into da Vinci’s mysterious alphabet and writing techniques as they browse touch-screen versions of his actual codices, or notebooks.
The exhibition was developed by Grande Exhibitions, under the auspices of the Commune di Roma, Commune di Firenze and Citta Di Venezia and with the assistance of Pascal Cotte of Lumiere Technologies, France.
Doors open to the public on June 25. Tickets for “Da Vinci – The Genius” will be available for purchase at the Science Museum Oklahoma box office. Tickets to the exhibit are $9.95 for adults and $5.95 for children 12 and younger, in addition to regular museum admission.
Science Museum Oklahoma is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays; 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays; and11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays. Daily general admission is $14.95 for adults (ages 13 to 64) and $12.95 for children (ages 3 to 12) and seniors (65 and older). For more information, go to www.sciencemuseumok.org or call (405) 602-3760.
About Science Museum Oklahoma
Science Museum Oklahoma is the state’s only hands-on science museum and, with over 350,000 square feet, one of the largest science museums in the nation. With a mission of enriching lives by revealing the wonder and relevance of science, Science Museum Oklahoma demonstrates the relationship between the physical sciences and everyday experiences. The museum influences how Oklahomans learn about science through the medium of interactive exhibits, discovery-based activities, astronomy shows, Science Live! demonstrations, educational outreach efforts and special events. The museum’s clear mission and firm focus on science literacy encourages families to develop and build upon a strong foundation in the sciences.
About Grande Exhibitions
Grande Exhibitions is the creator and promoter of “Da Vinci – The Genius.” Having researched, sourced and interpreted much of what is contained in the exhibition, Grande Exhibitions specializes in the creation, design, production, promotion and installation of large-scale international traveling exhibitions and permanent exhibition experiences of broad cultural appeal, which are engaging, entertaining and educational.
Grande Exhibitions conceptualizes exhibition experiences of timeless brand appeal and transforms them into visually and technically stunning exhibit masterpieces, ready to tour internationally. Our collection of exhibitions has been hosted in over 90 cities across six continents, to audiences in excess of 8 million people.
Grande Exhibitions operates from its head office in Melbourne, Australia, with satellite offices in London, Atlanta, and Santiago, Chile. Grande Exhibitions also owns and operates Museo Leonardo Da Vinci – a permanent museum in a prestigious central location in Rome.
About Pascal Cotte
Pascal Cotte is an engineer optician who is the inventor of the first multi-spectral high-definition camera and his revolutionary lighting allows for the conservation of the digitized documents. Cotte has worked for more than 20 years in his own high technology and IT companies to develop video solutions for major television studios and also the first Macintosh webcams and video cards, then flatbed scanners. He later invented the Jumboscan camera and the Jumbolux for digitizing large format documents with unequalled precision, with seven microns distortion, before developing the multi spectral camera. Cotte is a cofounder of LT2, and at the head of scientific research.
He digitized the “Mona Lisa” in the most recent analysis of the artwork, with exceptional detail and accuracy of colors never obtained before. He contributed to the success of the European project “Crisatel” to create a new standard of digitization of the global pictorial documents.
| WHAT: | Da Vinci – The Genius |
| WHEN: | June 25, 2016-Jan. 8, 2017 |
| WHERE: | Science Museum Oklahoma 2020 Remington Place Oklahoma City, OK |
| TICKETS: | $9.95 for adults and $5.95 for children 12 and younger, in addition to regular museum admission. |
| WEBSITE: | www.sciencemuseumok.org |