Creative Nurturing Recipe from Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci achieved success not only because of his own talent, but also through his method of constant observation and inquiry.

Leonardo da Vinci was "a very human genius," according to research by Walter Isaacson, professor of history at Tulane University and CEO of the Aspen Institute. Historically famous painters and creators do not have superior minds like Newton or Einstein, whose processing power is beyond imagination.

His genius stems from his imagination, quirky curiosity and active observation. It was the product of will and effort that made him a more inspiring role model for ordinary people.

More than 7,000 pages of Leonardo's notes are still kept to this day. Much evidence shows that he is not the perfect exception as people think.

He also made mistakes while studying arithmetic. He loved geometry but was not quick enough with the equations to decipher the laws of nature. He still left many art projects unfinished and many pages of ideas never published.

Many designs are only in the imagination of Leonardo da Vinci, from flying machines that never take off to tanks that can't roll. However, the ability to blur the line between reality and imagination is also the key to Leonardo's genius creativity.

"We may never match Leonardo's talent, but we can nurture in ourselves and in our children the skills he used to unleash the use of imagination," Isaacson wrote. essay.

Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi painting is displayed at Christie's auction house, New York, in October 2017. Photo: Reuters .

According to the American history professor, the most outstanding quality in the European Renaissance painter was curiosity. He wanted to learn about everything with all his passion, sometimes almost obsessively.

In his personal notes, the Italian inventor listed hundreds of topics he wanted to explore, from the macro to the ordinary. He set himself the task of finding explanations for the calf placenta, the crocodile jaw, the human facial muscles or the halo of the moon.

"Why do fish in water swim faster than birds in the air, when it should be because water is heavier and denser than air" or "Describe the tongue of a woodpecker". The questions that Leonardo da Vinci recorded in the notebook were completely random, not intended to serve a work of art that he was asked to.

The Renaissance produced many erudite minds with knowledge spanning many fields. Only Leonardo da Vinci created the Mona Lisa with incredible anatomical drawings, sketching how to regulate rivers and creating musical instruments, and explaining how light is reflected from the Earth. went to the Moon, used fossils to refute the biblical cataclysm, and recreated the same legend for the church.

Leanardo's boundless curiosity is helped in no small part by two other tools, the ability to observe details and indulge the imagination.

Thanks to his keen eyes, the Italian painter often discovers the details in life that rarely interest people. In his personal notes, Leonardo laid out a simple method for observing any scene thoroughly: Looking at every detail in isolation. He likens observation to reading a book. People cannot "see" anything if they look at the whole page of a book, but have to examine each word one by one.

"If you want to get to grips with things, start with every detail and don't jump to the second step until the first step has been imprinted on your mind," he wrote.

Leonardo understood that careful observation required not only discipline, attentiveness but also the patience to analyze the laws that he saw.

When painting the painting "The Last Supper" about the last time Jesus sat down to eat with his disciples, Leonardo sometimes stared at his unfinished work for hours, only to draw one more small stroke and then put it aside. step brush. He told the Duke of Milan, Francesco Sforza, that his creation takes time and patience.

Unlike the usual procrastination mentality, procrastination at Leonardo was actually part of the work. He still collects all the information, ideas and tries to process them to form them. He understands that professional observation requires careful note-taking.

From the time he returned to serve in Milan in the 1480s, he had developed the habit of recording every smallest thought and observation on a daily basis. Nearly half a millennium has passed, the pages left by Leonardo da Vinci still inspire researchers.

"If we also start that habit now, in 50 years, our own notebooks will probably surprise and inspire our children and grandchildren, as tweets and Facebook posts has fallen into oblivion," Isaacson wrote.

His curiosity was like that of a child, not bound by the boundaries between fields of study. His mind was always wandering between art and science, between mechanics and people. For Leonardo da Vinci, art is science and science is art. He is willing to erase the boundary between these two fields.

Today's world increasingly encourages specialization, whether students, scholars or workers. People are getting caught up in technology and engineering, believing that jobs only go to those who can program or create.

However, in the view of historian Isaacson, modern innovators are still more like Leonardo than today's stereotype. They do not clearly distinguish the beauty of art and science. The best lesson from the artist, inventor, and celebrity Leonardo da Vinci is not to pursue a better job, but to aim to live a more interesting life if you want to nurture creativity.