Da Vinci, like other innovators, was able to ‘think different,’ biographer says
Walter Isaacson has held some interesting jobs. He is a professor of history. He was a managing editor at Time, chairman at CNN and CEO of the Aspen Institute, an international nonprofit devoted to the exchange of ideas. But his most interesting job is chronicling the lives of creative people.
After writing bestsellers on Albert Einstein, Henry Kissinger, Steve Jobs and Benjamin Franklin, Isaacson recently released “Leonardo da Vinci,” a fresh look at one of history’s most creative thinkers.
Q: How did you approach tackling a subject as impressive and far-reaching as Leonardo da Vinci?
A: I approached him through his notebooks. I wanted to show how his art connected to his engineering, his science and his love of nature. He has more than 7,000 notebook pages that are still available, and I went around the world where his notebooks are, and I studied them.
Q: Were you overwhelmed by having to address things as different as the heart’s aortic valve, the Mona Lisa and military machinery — that is, all the things that da Vinci studied?
A: What I like about Leonardo is that he wanted to know about everything there was to know. It wasn’t overwhelming. He wasn’t Superman. He made math mistakes. He put some paintings aside he couldn’t finish. His creativity came from things we can do ourselves. He pushed himself every day to be more curious about things. He would make a list of things he wanted to learn, even simple things, such as, “Why is the sky blue?” Or, “How does a bird’s wing flap upward faster than downward when a bird takes off ?” These are things we wondered about as kids, but we outgrew our wonder years and stopped wondering about them. Through Leonardo, we can be inspired to be more curious.
Q: At one point in the book, you call him “the master of the unfinished,” and in your concluding chapter, you extol his virtue of procrastination. Can you elaborate?
A: He said that, sometimes, instead of rushing something out the door, you have to try to perfect it. He also said that sometimes when it looks like people aren’t working, they are actually working the most. They have gathered information, and they are letting it sort of stew in their heads. That’s the way, according to him, great artists or creators work. He didn’t finish everything, but when he did — such as with “Mona Lisa” — it was a work of perfection.
Q: Which of his endeavors most fascinated you?
A: I would mention two of them because they surprised me. One is how beautiful his anatomical drawings are. He discovered the details of things such as the heart valve from his dissections, and that work informed his drawings. The other aspect of his work that really fascinated me was how important theater production was to his early career. He did scenery and props for the theater, and you can see that influence in his engineering — some of his imaginative inventions, such as his “helicopter” drawing, which he designed for a play — and in his art, such as “The Last Supper,” which resembles a set design.
Q: What percentage of da Vinci’s total paintings are extant today?
A: We have about 20 great paintings, some of them unfinished. He probably did five or 10 others, but I think we have most of them because da Vinci was famous in his own lifetime, and people kept his work. And just recently, Christie’s auctioned off “Salvator Mundi,” which was accepted as a Leonardo not long ago. So there is always hope that there is more to discover about the man. (It sold for a record-breaking $450 million.)
Q: In the book, you discuss the way in which a da Vinci painting is identified. Could you discuss that?
A: One is his left-handed hatching. Being left-handed, the lines he draws are from right to left, so as to not smudge the ink. Another is that he liked to blur the lines of the objects he drew. He would often use his thumb or hand to do the smudge. Finally, there is a deep emotional context because he was able to depict — better than any other artist — his subjects’ inner emotions through expressions or gestures.
Q: What’s your favorite painting of his?
A: Obviously, “Mona Lisa” stuns you with the way he captured emotion, which seems to produce an interactive experience. One of his lesser-known paintings is “Lady With an Ermine” that enthralls me with its light and the emotions he captured.
Q: You have tackled various biographical subjects who are innovative and intelligent. What qualities do they have in common? A: They questioned received wisdom. They were extraordinarily curious about everything. They tended to blur the imaginary with reality. In Steve Jobs’ words, they tended to “think different.” It’s not just that they were intelligent; they were creative and innovative. That’s something we can all aspire to be.