Da Vinci – The Genius Exhibition at the V&A Waterfront

Get a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the inventions and art of Leonardo Da Vinci

You know that he painted the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, but did you know that Leonardo da Vinci also created flying machines and diving gear? You can learn this and more amazing facts about the master painter at the exhibition Da Vinci – The Genius. It will be on show at the V&A Waterfront’s Chavonnes Battery Museum from Wednesday, 27 November 2013 until Sunday, 23 March 2014.

This travelling exhibition has captivated crowds in many cities – from Manchester to Budapest and Rotterdam to most recently Alabama, before heading to Cape Town. It showcases Da Vinci’s lesser-known talents as an inventor, sculptor, mathematician, writer, anatomist and botanist. This one-of-a-kind exhibition is a glimpse into his genius mind through more than 200 replicas, including 75 life-size prototypes of Da Vinci’s machines, carefully crafted using his notebooks as a guide. You will get insights into some of his greatest works, like the first concepts of a car, helicopter, bicycle and submarine. You will even get to push, pull, yank and crank some of these machines.

It’s a dream exhibition for art and history aficionadas, engineers and mathematicians. But it will also be interesting to those simply enchanted by the Mona Lisa. A big feature of the exhibition is the unveiling of the 25 secrets about the Mona Lisa, like the fact that the blanket covering her knees also covers her stomach and that her left finger was not fully finished.

Vincian expert and scientific engineer Pascal Cotte spent two years photographing the painting using a high-tech 240-million megapixel camera. He invented the camera specifically so he could peel the layers of Da Vinci’s every brush stroke. 

More to see and do at Da Vinci – The Genius Exhibition

• anatomical sketches;
• preparatory drawings of a lost painting
• touch-screen versions of Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks
• 3-D interactive presentationsof The Last Supper, the Vitruvian Man and the Storza Horse sculpture;
• and a replica of the most recently discovered Da Vinci, Bella Principessa.

Tickets for Da Vinci – The Genius Exhibition

Tickets are available from the Chavonnes Battery Museum or online at Webtickets.co.za. They cost R140p/p, R110p/p for students and seniors, R90p/p for children between the ages of 6 and 17 and are free for little ones younger than 5. Family tickets are also available for two adults and two children at a cost of R400p/p.

The museum is open every day from 9am to 9pm and the last admission will be 90 minutes before closing. Contact Great World Exhibitions at +27 (0) 71 547 5558 for any general enquiries regarding the exhibition. 

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Take in more pretty paintings, sculptures and photographs at any one of these art galleries in Cape Town and surrounds.
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