The movement
Chapter 2
Leonardo da Vinci, the principle of all life
Often celebrated for his masterful paintings, such as The Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, Leonardo was also an inventor, a scientist, an engineer and a tireless observer of nature in search of its laws.
At the heart of his reflections, one idea constantly recurs: ‘Movement is the principle of all life’. Why was this notion so essential to him? How did the study of movement inform his artistic practice as well as his mechanical, anatomical and scientific research? In the lines below, we will examine the way in which Leonardo da Vinci conceived and studied movement, and see how this preoccupation guided his work, his view of nature and his aspiration to understand the mechanisms of living things.
Born in 1452 in Tuscany, Leonardo da Vinci grew up in Renaissance Italy, a time when Antiquity was being rediscovered, when nascent rationalism and the desire to grasp reality through observation and experience were gaining strength. The arts, science, philosophy and technology were no longer compartmentalised: they responded to and nurtured each other.
In this climate, Leonardo went beyond the traditional role of artist. He was a painter, engineer, anatomist and architect. He observed the world with boundless curiosity, convinced that the key to understanding it lay in an exact knowledge of the forces, structures and dynamics that animated nature. Movement, seen as a universal phenomenon, attracted his particular attention. He saw it as a fundamental principle, revealing the life and organisation of the world.
To say that ‘Movement is the principle of all life’ was, for Leonardo, to emphasise that life is not a fixed state, but a continuous process, a permanent momentum. Living things are born, grow, move and interact. Plants reach for the light, animals move, breathe and feed, and these internal and external dynamics determine their existence.
For Leonardo, understanding movement means grasping the invisible forces that
underlying life. This involved analysing the mechanics of the human body, the movements of muscles and joints, the structure of skeletons, but also natural phenomena: the flow of rivers, the trajectory of birds in flight, the rhythm of waves, the rotation of celestial bodies. Everything seems animated by a vital impulse, and Leonardo’s eye seeks to decipher its laws.
Leonardo da Vinci is famous for his remarkably precise anatomical studies. He dissected cadavers, meticulously observing the layout of bones, the configuration of muscles and tendons, seeking to understand how the body produces movement. This anatomical work, a pioneering achievement for its time, was part of his wider ambition: to faithfully represent human movement in art.
For Leonardo, a painter should not limit himself to external appearances. He must grasp the internal architecture that makes movement possible. Thus, in his sketches, drawings and paintings, the bodies always seem to be endowed with a latent energy, as if suspended between two actions. The figures in The Last Supper give the impression of being caught in the middle of an animated exchange, where every posture and gesture is the result of muscular tension, a shift in balance, a barely interrupted intention. Similarly, in sfumato, the subtle technique of blurring contours, shapes appear to soften and vibrate, suggesting a movement ready to blossom.
In this way, Leonardo transposed his scientific understanding into his artistic practice. By mastering the fundamentals of anatomy, he was able to infuse his representations with an internal dynamic, giving rise to a veritable ‘breathing’ of the image. The viewer, confronted with his works, feels the presence of movement, perceives the energy that animates the figures.
Leonardo was not interested in movement only in the realm of the living. It extends to all natural phenomena. Leonardo observed the course of water at length, drawing whirlpools, eddies and laminar flows, trying to understand the laws of fluid dynamics. He was interested in the behaviour of the wind, the patterns created by air flows and the movements of clouds. This exploration of physical phenomena was also expressed in his mechanical studies: he designed and imagined machines capable of transmitting and transforming movement, anticipating flying machines, pulley systems and measuring instruments.
For Leonardo, the machine was a scale model of the world. Understanding how it worked enabled him to grasp the general laws of motion, whether it was a bird’s wing, a mill blade or a hoist designed to lift loads. This approach foreshadowed later developments in mechanics and physics.
Leonardo da Vinci’s insistence on movement as the fundamental principle of life has, had a profound impact on the artistic and scientific tradition. His anatomical drawings, studies of bodies in movement and observations of fluids and natural forces paved the way for subsequent analyses, from Muybridge’s sequential studies to contemporary research into biotechnology, kinematics and virtual animation.
By showing that the artist and the scientist had to work together, Leonardo reminded us that understanding nature means unlocking the secrets of movement. This fusion of disciplines, from the most meticulous observation to the most inventive representation, remains a model for anyone seeking to grasp the dynamism of reality, whether in art, science or technology.
For Leonardo da Vinci, movement was more than an observable phenomenon: it was the intimate expression of life, the manifestation of that invisible force that animates the world. By seeking to understand how living things move, how water flows and how machines transmit energy, he placed the notion of movement at the heart of his vision of nature.
His approach, which combined observation, anatomical study, scientific analysis and artistic creation, offered a model of thought in which the quest for knowledge and the quest for beauty were intertwined. With the phrase ‘Movement is the principle of all life’, Leonardo da Vinci invites us to perceive the world not as a succession of inert objects, but as a dynamic, vibrant fabric in perpetual transformation.
