art that speaks

to the soul

GLIMPSES OF GENIUS

These narration's about the worlds immortal artists, as told by Sri Chinmoy in a series which began in February 1980, bring us closer to those unfathomable geniuses which the world has known, admired and loved. Movingly or amusingly, these narrations help preserve that status which those Greats hold: Immortal.


TWO SURPRISES PLUS ONE ASTONISHMENT

Leonardo da Vinci, when a young boy, drew a picture of a strikingly powerful monster, belching fire and poison, then proudly placed it on a window to surprise his father.

When his father came home and saw the picture, he had the shock of his life. The monster was so vivid, so real! Very shortly, his father got the opportunity to spring a surprise on the little Leonardo, by enrolling him in an art class.

The Mother Earth did not want to remain in pin-drop silence. She astonished both father and son by making the son the most astonishingly immortal artist man on earth.

DA VINCI'S VISION

Leonardo da Vinci had tre-mendous fondness for flying. He was all affection for birds. He used to buy them in large numbers only to set them free and watch them fly. He was fascinated by their flight.

For a long time he wanted to make an airplane. With greatest difficulty he succeeded in mak-ing a model of a flying machine that would be propelled by the wind, and he made up his mind that on a certain day he would fly. Alas, one of his pupils, Zoroaste de Peretolo, was clever enough or foolish enough to steal the airplane and he himself tried to fly. As ill luck would have it, he went up a little and then fell down and paid the price. He broke one of his legs.

So the poor artist was saved from his own creation. But who can deny da Vinci's vision! He could not transform it into reality, but later on human beings did make airplanes and flew in them. Today's vision is tomorrow's reality. Vision may take time before it manifests itself into reality. But vision is always appreciable and admirable.

THE IMMORTALISING SMILE

Leonardo da Vinci was immortal. He achieved wonders in many walks of life. Not only in the world of art but also in the worlds of literature, science and many other fields he was a real immortal. His most important and significant work, which fas-cinates the entire world, is the Mona Lisa.

Mona Lisa was the wife of an elderly nobleman. Da Vinci took quite a few days to paint her portrait. She used to come and sit before him, but she would never smile and was never in a mood to be entertained. Da Vinci tried in so many ways to make her smile. Finally, he resorted to music and hired a band of musicians to entertain her. The musicians played for a few days, but there was still no response from Mona Lisa.

One day, just for a fleeting second, she gave a faint smile, and da Vinci was able to catch it. That smile has immortalized her, immortalized the artist and immortalized the art. Artist and art have been immortalized by just a faint smile, a smile that has an enigmatic touch. Even now a soul-touch is there, and that soul-touch has conquered the heart of the world. Because of that smile, the artist and the art at once have touched Immortality's Shore and become immortal.