Lessons from Da Vinci

For years, I read nothing but plays. I was a one-dimensional person. But in time, I discovered I had to diversify my knowledge. 

The more I learned, the more I realized how ideas cross-pollinate. 

And perhaps nobody understood this principle better than Leonardo Da Vinci.

The most famous painting in the world is a byproduct of integrating different arenas of knowledge.

The Mona Lisa was painted by a man who didn’t particularly like being called an artist. Da Vinci preferred to think of himself as an engineer and a scientist.

And because he was obsessed with optics, how light created different shades, and anatomy he was able to blend those disciplines into a masterpiece.

He spent his evenings peeling the skin off cadavers because he wanted to see how tendons and muscles worked, how a person furrowed a brow, or smiled.

He was a man who simply had to know.