CBS News
Portrait of a genius: Ken Burns on Leonardo da Vinci
Ever since he got a movie camera for his 17th birthday, Ken Burns has been making documentaries. Over the years, he’s created 36 documentary series for PBS, all of them about American history, from “The Civil War,” “Baseball” and “Jazz,” to “Prohibition,” “The Vietnam War” and “Muhammad Ali.”
Now, he’s just made his first project ever that’s not about an American subject: “Leonardo da Vinci.” “It was just getting to know one of the most incredibly interesting human beings who has ever walked the Earth,” Burns said. “And the fact that he turns out to be arguably the greatest painter and certainly the greatest scientist of his age is, you know, extra added.”
Burns co-directed the show with his daughter, Sarah Burns, and her husband, David McMahon.
To watch a trailer for the documentary “Leonardo da Vinci” click on the video player below:
The four-hour series makes use of the approximately 6,000 notebook pages Leonardo left behind, from studies in such disciplines as geology and physics, to his preparatory studies for his paintings. And then there are his to-do lists. What emerges is a portrait of a genius, who’s not just a painter, not just a scientist, not just an inventor.
“He wants to know everything about everything,” said Sarah Burns. “So, he’s dissecting a cadaver because he wants to understand how the heart works and how the body works, all towards creating a painting that is more life-like, more believable, more alive.”
Ken Burns said the “gigantic” volume of source material asks fundamental basic questions: “Where did I come from? Where am I going? How does the universe work? I mean, these are things that occupied him every single moment of every single day.”
What also emerges is a man who rarely finished anything. “There’s fewer than 20 paintings that exist today, probably less than half of those are actually finished, we think,” said Sarah Burns.
Ken Burns says he doesn’t believe it’s a mark of procrastination: “I think things are left unfinished, or undelivered to patrons, because the questions that he was asking of this work for himself had been satisfied.”
Sarah added, “Being interested in so many different things as he was, there’s always the next thing, a new question, something else that comes along that takes away his attention.”
Two things DaVinci did finish, though, are among the most famous paintings ever made: “The Last Supper” and “Mona Lisa.”
“‘The Last Supper’ was a very commonly painted subject for Leonardo’s time,” said McMahon. “Leonardo discovers a completely different thing happening than most other painters had. This is Christ telling his disciples that one of them is going to betray him. And he puts them in groups. And so, one is putting his hand over his eyes, another is reaching for a knife. And so, it becomes a painting that feels like seconds unfolding. And it makes me feel like he would have been a filmmaker, today, had he lived in our time.”
CBS News
“I think he invents film,” said Ken Burns. “There’s a kind of inherent dynamism and movement to it that’s just exquisite.”
Of “Mona Lisa,” Burns said, “In order for him to be a great painter, he has to understand the circulatory system. He has to understand about hair. He has to understand about geography and rock formations and mist and how atmosphere works. And so, my wish is that nobody ever makes a joke about her smile ever again! Because she is embodying the entire human project in that thing.”
If you’ve ever edited photos or videos on an iPhone or a Mac, you may already know one of Burns’ favorite editing techniques: Zooming or panning across a still image, a process, he says, meant to “shake alive something that is two-dimensional.”
But the new documentary, narrated by Keith David, introduces techniques that will be very new to Burns aficionados: split screens that juxtapose old and modern footage.
According to Sarah Burns, Leonardo da Vinci was a lateral thinker: “He made connections across all of these disciplines. Showing multiple things on screen at the same time was a way of, in some ways, visually illustrating Leonardo’s thought process.”
PBS
Asked about the balance of labor for the project, Saran Burns said, “Dave and I are the writers of this. And then once we have our script, we begin our editing process. And that’s when we get in there all together and work on making it better, together. Occasionally, we disagree about what that should be.”
But Ken Burns doesn’t automatically get the final word: “No! That doesn’t work,” he said. “That doesn’t wash with collaboration.”
“Leonardo da Vinci” airs on PBS in mid-November. It’s the story of a fascinating man and an astonishing life. “He could feel, I think, quite rightfully, that he had lived a fuller life than practically anybody I’d ever come across, in any study, in any period. Period,” said Burns.
WEB EXTRA: Ken Burns on the “incredibly modern” Leonardo da Vinci:
For more info:
Story produced by Jay Kernis. Editor: Emanuele Secci.
See also:
More from Ken Burns:
The Indiana Fever fired coach Christie Sides on Sunday, the organization announced.
Sides went 33-47 in her two seasons with the squad, including going 20-20 this season. The Fever made the playoffs as the sixth seed and were swept in the first round by the Connecticut Sun.
Indiana is the sixth team to make a coaching change this offseason, joining Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, Washington and Los Angeles. All of the coaches let go had three years or less experience.
Jessica Hill / AP
Whoever takes over the Fever will have a strong young core to work with, led by Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston. The pair have won the last two WNBA Rookie of the Year awards.
“We are incredibly thankful to Coach Sides for embracing the challenge of leading us through an integral transition period over the last two seasons, while also positioning us well for future growth,” Fever president of basketball operations Kelly Krauskopf said.
“While decisions like these are never easy, it is also imperative that we remain bold and assertive in the pursuit of our goals, which includes maximizing our talent and bringing another WNBA championship back to Indiana. Coach Sides was an incredible representative of the Fever and our community, and we wish her nothing but success in the future.”
Krauskopf came back to the Fever earlier this month after spending time with the Indiana Pacers.
Ashley Landis / AP
Sides was a longtime assistant in the league, spending time with Chicago (2011-16), the Fever (2017-19) and Atlanta (2022) before getting the head coaching job. She replaced Marianne Stanley and her interim successor, Carlos Knox, who coached in the 2022 season.
Sides had two years left on her contract.
The Fever haven’t had a head coach last for more than three years since Lin Dunn, who coached from 2008-14. Since then, they’ve had Stephanie White (2015-16), Pokey Chatman (2017-19) and Stanley (2020-22).
Indiana had a brutal schedule to start the season and lost eight of their first nine games. The Fever finally got going after the Olympic break, winning seven of eight to get into playoff contention.
CBS News
Pennsylvania top election official says that 2020 ligation upheld that “elections were accurate”
Pennsylvania’s top election official said Sunday that the commonwealth’s 2020 elections were “accurate,” while saying Pennsyvlania is “not susceptible to any sort of widespread voter fraud” — and he said officials are preparing with heightened security to combat threats as Election Day draws near.
“Time and time again, in many dozens of cases in 2020, every one of those cases upheld that our elections were accurate and that we’re not susceptible to any sort of widespread voter fraud or anything like that,” Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Al Schmidt said Sunday on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”
The issue of election integrity is top of mind in battleground Pennsylvania, where last week, the Lancaster County district attorney reported incidents of voter registration fraud among a group of around 2,500 ballots. Schmidt said the country reached out to his office “right away” for guidance and is pursuing an investigation “responsibly.” And the top election official said he’s working with counties to provide the resources needed “so that we have a free, fair, safe and secure election in 2024 just as we had in 2020.”
Meanwhile, election officials are combating threats to election workers. Schmidt said in 2020, officials had to “scramble to figure out when threats were incoming,” while outlining the changes put in place since then, including an election threat task force made up of federal, state and local law enforcement partners and election administration. He noted that open lines of communication and clear responsibilities have also made the commonwealth better prepared.
“So that if any of the ugliness returns that we experienced In 2020, everyone will be ready,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt committed to certifying the election results even if the winner is of the opposite political party, as did Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, who also appeared on “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
Fontes said the state’s safety and security protocols surrounding election results tabulation are a stark departure from recent years.
“It’s absolutely, completely different from 2020. In fact, I remember in 2018 our greatest security threat was a rattlesnake in the parking lot at the Pinnacle Peak Precinct,” Fontes said. “So this is a radically different set of circumstances that we are dealing with, but we are prepared, and we’re going to have a secure election.”
CBS News
Pennsylvania top election official says that 2020 ligation upheld that “elections were accurate”
Pennsylvania’s top election official said Sunday that the commonwealth’s 2020 elections were “accurate,” while saying Pennsyvlania is “not susceptible to any sort of widespread voter fraud” — and he said officials are preparing with heightened security to combat threats as Election Day draws near.
“Time and time again, in many dozens of cases in 2020, every one of those cases upheld that our elections were accurate and that we’re not susceptible to any sort of widespread voter fraud or anything like that,” Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Al Schmidt said Sunday on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”
The issue of election integrity is top of mind in battleground Pennsylvania, where last week, the Lancaster County district attorney reported incidents of voter registration fraud among a group of around 2,500 ballots. Schmidt said the country reached out to his office “right away” for guidance and is pursuing an investigation “responsibly.” And the top election official said he’s working with counties to provide the resources needed “so that we have a free, fair, safe and secure election in 2024 just as we had in 2020.”
Meanwhile, election officials are combating threats to election workers. Schmidt said in 2020, officials had to “scramble to figure out when threats were incoming,” while outlining the changes put in place since then, including an election threat task force made up of federal, state and local law enforcement partners and election administration. He noted that open lines of communication and clear responsibilities have also made the commonwealth better prepared.
“So that if any of the ugliness returns that we experienced In 2020, everyone will be ready,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt committed to certifying the election results even if the winner is of the opposite political party, as did Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, who also appeared on “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
Fontes said the state’s safety and security protocols surrounding election results tabulation are a stark departure from recent years.
“It’s absolutely, completely different from 2020. In fact, I remember in 2018 our greatest security threat was a rattlesnake in the parking lot at the Pinnacle Peak Precinct,” Fontes said. “So this is a radically different set of circumstances that we are dealing with, but we are prepared, and we’re going to have a secure election.”
Indiana Fever fire coach Christie Sides after Caitlin Clark’s breakout season
Pennsylvania top election official says that 2020 ligation upheld that “elections were accurate”
Pennsylvania top election official says that 2020 ligation upheld that “elections were accurate”
Indiana Fever fire coach Christie Sides after Caitlin Clark’s breakout season
Pennsylvania top election official says that 2020 ligation upheld that “elections were accurate”