Da Vinci in Atlanta

Everyone loves Da Vinci, right? The mirror-writing genius who painted enigmatic women, sculpted magnificent men, and invented things that didn't exist until the twentieth century. So, the High Museum in Atlanta hosts this exhibit of Da Vinci's genius, only it's a bit of a con. Like so many of the exhibits at the High, it seems they were given the cast-offs, the flotsam that other museums said, "yeah, go ahead and send that to Atlanta, we don't care if they get barbecue sauce on it."




Don't get me wrong, there's a HUGE horse outside, patterned after Da Vinci's own design. And, it's cool to see pages out of this phenomenal man's notebooks, to get a close-up look at the ink he put on the paper with his own astounding hand. Still...Atlanta's a major metropolitan city, can't we wrangle a visiting Annunciation or a mobile Madonna?

My cynicism aside, the Da Vinci exhibit makes for a fine afternoon in downtown Atlanta, and the High's permanent collection of contemporary and classical pieces will fill more hours than you've set aside in the day.



Heck, even the building is an exhibit in itself.