The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci Program Prologue

A Marriage of Two Minds

“Leonardo is all of us... anytime we wake up to the beauty of the astonishing world all around us, we should cling to that and think of Leonardo.” –Mary Zimmerman

Leonardo da Vinci is known as one of the Western world’s greatest artists, inventors, and scientists. He chronicled his musings in numerous notebooks, some bound and some not, in his iconic mirrored handwriting (as a lefty, he wrote from left to right in a sort of shorthand). There are over 10,000 pages of his notes and drawings in existence, many of which are held in museums and libraries across the world.

Mary Zimmerman is also known as one of the contemporary Western world’s greatest theatre artists, earning awards nationally and internationally including the prestigious MacArthur “Genius” Award. Much as da Vinci’s work looked at the world around him and made it more beautiful, Zimmerman’s revivals and adaptations of classical and pre-classical works blow the dust off their covers and breathe fresh life into their words.

It makes sense that one genius would be drawn to the other—bridging centuries of history to converse, collaborate, and create beautiful art. The piece you will see today is not a biography of a remarkable man. It is, instead, a manifestation of the ever-curious consciousness of two great artists, discovering and admiring the world around us.