“Art is the queen of all sciences communicating knowledge to all the generations of the world.” Leonardo Da Vinci, artist
World Art Day is an international celebration of art, declared by the International Association of Art (a partner of UNESCO) to promote the diversity of artistic expression, and highlight both the contribution of art in cultural growth and the importance of art and creativity in education. World Art Day is celebrated every year on April 15, the birthday of Leonardo Da Vinci, an artist who perhaps more than any other exemplifies human creativity and artistic expression.
Painter, sculptor, architect, designer, anatomist, theorist, engineer, and scientist, Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, born in 1452, created some of the most famous images in European art. Though many of his works were never finished, and even fewer have survived, he influenced generations of artists and continues to be revered as a universal genius.
His Mona Lisa is perhaps the most famous painting in the world, The Last Supper is the most reproduced religious painting in history, and his Vitruvian Man drawing is a global cultural icon. In 2017, Salvator Mundi sold for $450.3 million.
He also conceptualized many ideas that only became reality centuries later. Though his practice was limited by the technology of his day, his imagination had no such restrictions. Ideas of flying machines, armored fighting vehicles, solar power, an adding machine, musical instruments, bridges, mills, water machines, the parachute, the helicopter litter his notebooks. And significant intellectual discoveries in geology, optics, hydraulics, engineering, anatomy, and hydrodynamics demonstrate further the richness of his creative thinking.
Unlike many artists, Leonardo was successful and well known in his lifetime, and his fame and legacy have only grown over the centuries. So, it is appropriate that we celebrate a day of global creativity on his birthday.
World Art Day encourages us all to create something on April 15. Maybe it’s a painting, a drawing, a collage, a song, a poem, or a sculpture. Or perhaps it’s something new in the garden, or maybe something intensely tasty from the kitchen! Let’s share our World Art Day creations together on social media - #worldartday #culturalcenter #keepcapecodcreative.