Grande Experiences, a leading global arts and culture immersive experience company, has shared the passion which underpins its work with a look at its exhibition Leonardo da Vinci – 500 Years of Genius, which is currently showing at THE LUME Melbourne.
This exhibition is a passion project for the firm’s founder and chairman, Bruce Peterson and realises his lifelong dream to create the most comprehensive exhibition of Leonardo da Vinci possible and share it with new audiences.
“Everything at Grande Experiences is storytelling, and the story of Leonardo da Vinci has been a passion of mine for the past 18 years,” Peterson says.
“The company was built on Leonardo – I moved my young family to Italy for a year to develop Grande’s first Leonardo da Vinci exhibition. Because of this dedication, the most recent exhibition, Leonardo da Vinci—500 Years of Genius, is the most comprehensive Leonardo experience you’ll find anywhere in the world.”
See also: Unlocking da Vinci’s legacy: behind the scenes of the ‘500 Years of Genius’ exhibition
Stepping into Leonardo’s story
In this exhibition, audiences will gain an overview of the enormous variety of fields that Leonardo contributed to. Stories of his work, such as his discovery of how eyes and heart valves work, are interwoven with stories from his life.
Peterson explains: “We’ve got a vast array of machine inventions brought to life from Leonardo’s Codices – his original notebooks – and we’ve worked with artisans to build them as though they’ve come from his workshop in the early 1500s.
“In the Mona Lisa Revealed section, we have the world’s only 360-degree replica of the Mona Lisa. Visitors get to see all the details up close, including the back of the painting and where it has been repaired.
“You won’t see those things at The Louvre!”
Grande Experiences’ goal is for audiences to gain a wealth of knowledge and develop a deep emotional connection to Leonardo’s story.
“We want them to feel not just entertained, but truly immersed in the experience,” says Peterson.
“Every time we create a new experience, we want to keep wowing audiences. Every time, the bar gets lifted higher.”
Last month, Grande Experiences announced the launch of two new experiences at its flagship venues, with Leonardo da Vinci—500 Years of Genius at THE LUME Melbourne and Dalí Alive at THE LUME Indianapolis in collaboration with the Museum of Fine Art Newfields.
