Connection Between the Fine Arts and the Sciences - Scholarship Essay Example

The distinction between the sciences and fine arts has been widely regarded for being nothing short of polar opposites. The previous can be characterized as precise and scrupulous while the latter is geared more towards the flamboyant and the extreme. In analogy, where the study of the human brain is founded on meticulous care, an abstract painting that could seem so chaotic at first glance could also be regarded as the most sublime artistic creation. Though the very natures of the stereotypical connotation between these two important fields that greatly affect human life yield an instinctive conclusion that they can never be reconciled, a closer analysis both historical and practical could prove otherwise.

The fine arts has always been concerned with the concept of beauty and how it can be depicted through different media while science has continuously busied itself with the discovery of things and the invention of tools that could make life easier. But when I think of the most perceptible historical era that brought forth an understanding that these disciplines can be ventured into concurrently by any person then it would be the Renaissance. This era has been deeply regarded for producing not only numerous great artworks but also massive discoveries in the field of science.

The Renaissance man is known to be not only creative but also erudite and this has been adopted over the years as the ideal holistic person. The epitome of the Renaissance man who has extended perpetual his influence in humankind is no less than Leonardo Da Vinci. Da Vinci once said that “The knowledge of all things is possible” (as cited by Gelb, p.44). The man has lived to this principle and this could be seen through his works. Starting out as an apprentice to the highly regarded artist Verrocchio, he went to study with the Company of St.

Luke to delve into understanding the human anatomy. This was considered by some as the time he rendered ‘Annunciation’ (Gelb, p. 45). When one thinks about the consistency of how an artwork could also be a fundamental part of science specifically medicine, the accuracy and the proficiency of understanding the human body at the time could be summed up in Da Vinci’s ‘Vitruvian Man.’ This painting finds its way not only in fine arts related subjects, book covers and others but also in medicine.

The development of a well-rounded person necessarily finds its mark in the totality of one who is able to traverse a path that travels both spheres of human knowledge. What we can see today is how fine arts has transformed into a science through methodological approaches and defined techniques justly attributed to science while science has evolved into an art form with the finesse and perception that goes into creating art. The logic that goes with science is also a translation that is apparent in today’s art and the enlightenment that art brings has also become inculcated in the sciences.

But perhaps the most important in all of these is not just the understanding that goes into it but the very appreciation of life. Bibliography Gelb, Michael J. How to Think like Leonardo Da Vinci Seven Steps to Genius Every Day. New York: Delta, 2004. Web. 30 Dec. 2011.