1 February—6 May 2019

Leonardo Unfinished

This exhibition has now finished.

Embrace your own inner polymath in the knowledge that Leonardo was a genius… but he also left loads of works unfinished too.

To complement Leonardo da Vinci: A Life in Drawing, three young Bristol artists have produced Leonardo Unfinished.

Anika, Marcin and Maisie took themes from Leonardo’s work and picked objects from our collection to create an eclectic and compelling manifesto to nurture your inner polymath.

About the project

Leonardo Unfinished is part of the Young Exhibition Producers Programme (YEPP). This six month project took three young people from under-represented backgrounds in the arts and heritage sector.

The Leonardo da Vinci exhibition offered us a good opportunity to create a complementary display. Leonardo is a well-known artist and his work gave us lots of scope to bring out some of the treasures in our store room.

We were interested in seeing what Anika, Marcin and Maisie would make of these objects. They spent over a month exploring the store rooms and choosing items.

The museum team supported them as they developed a concept and aesthetic. Four keys themes emerged from studying Leonardo’s drawings and making connections. These now form the layout of the gallery – Beauty and the grotesque, Thinking on paper, Under the skin and The deluge.

The YEPP project is part of our young people’s engagement programme. We worked with Rising Arts Agency and Creative Youth Network to recruit participants, as they have a commitment to diversity.

The young people from these schemes had some experience in developing their arts and events skills and were ready to take the next step in their creative careers.

You can find out more about the project on our blog.


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