(left) DFG Leibniz Lecture with Frank Bradke and the Neuroscience in Germany XXIV Social. (right) “Convergence” was painted by Pollock
and is considered one of his best works. Some conservatives believe that there is no ‘beauty’ in abstract expressionism sad life! Image prop-
erty of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY (right).
slide, when I saw the painting by J.
W. Waterhouse at Dr. Bradke’s slides,
“Ulysses and the Sirens”, I became
a molecular-mechanisms-of-axon-
growth-and-regeneration groupie (if
that even exists).
Another example of a nice talk in the
Society for Neuroscience was Dr.
Pasko Rakic, a well-humored Serbian
neuroscientist, known for his radial
unit hypothesis and further work on
the development of the cortex. He
showed one of my favorite paintings,
La Clairvoyance by René Magritte.
This painting shows a self-portrait of
Magritte during his process of crea-
tion – he stares at an egg, but he
paints a bird. As a painter, Magritte is
making a statement:
I am a clairvoyant, I convey the future in
my part, I see the process of creation and
existence in advance – and that only be-
cause I am an artist.
Dr. Rakic, however, boldly announced
the bridge between this painting and
the work of a scientist. A scientist
should be able to see outside of the
box – a broader picture of the pre-
sent’s reality must be in sight in order
for science to prevail, as we know it
is a flexible and revolutionizing disci-
pline.
“Science and art walk together, you
should know that”, added Rakic, after
showing Magritte’s painting.
Having Leonardo da Vinci as my spir-
itual mentor, (I hope I do not sound
too spiritualistic for a scientist), the
concept of art and science walking
together is already part of my indis-
putable reality. It is impossible not
to notice the science behind Escher’s
paintings, or the art behind Cajal’s de-
piction of pyramidal neurons. One can
argue that science and art are sepa-
rate fields– but then we come to the
second level of perception that I intro-
duced earlier.
One way of contemplating Art is by
finding the aesthetical essence to it
e.g. by finding the beauty in the de-
termined thing being presented. This
thing, let it be a painting, sculpture,
theater play, furniture or whatever
else, should portray a message that
reaches out more to the observer than
the artist himself. This message being
perceived and interpreted by the ob-
server, is my definition of ‘beauty’ in
the art realm.
PS: I should also add here that ‘beauty’
is a very nebulous term, as it involves
cultural parameters and personal ex-
perience (I, for instance, have already
heard people saying that Pollock’s
paintings look abysmal, declaration
that still today haunts me…).
Upon using the scientific method, how
can one not find beautiful that Na-
ture’s laws obey to no God, to no en-
tity, to no one, but only to the laws of
Physics and Life itself? How can one
not see the beautiful aesthetics it pre-
sents?
Upon painting something with no ref-
erence to science or the natural laws
still the painting is going to be ob-
served by photoreceptors in the retina
and decoded in the primary visual area
in the occipital lobe, Perhaps maybe it
will trigger connections in the limbic
system and the hippocampus, trig-
gering memories and emotions from
previous years…
I might have end up in a Sisyphus’ trap;
I might have condemned myself to an
eternity trying to explain why think-
ing of art and science as inseparable
makes so much sense, at least in my
world. Maybe I should try to stop here,
or maybe I just should have my brain
checked in fMRI while I am looking
at Magritte’s paintings, or while I am
reading Kandel’s Principles of Neuro-
science.
“Come hither, come hither, neuro-
science apprentice,” art invites me.
Flamboyant and warm, while the cold,
razor-sharp logic of Science weights
in my back like a boulder. Upon not
knowing where to go, I remain aboard
the ship, hoping it will not sink, hop-
ping I will not drown.
Oh, this is going to be a long ride…
Image sources were open source or belong
to the author, unless otherwise noted
Cover image source: Ulysses and the Si-
rens, 1891 National Gallery of Victoria. and
Clairvoyance, 1936 Art Institute of Chicago
Eduarda Streit Morsch is currently
in the Neural and Behavioral
Neuroscience Masters Program in
Tübingen, Germany.
July 2018 | NEUROMAG |
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