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Eiffel Tower (photo by me)

Neurons to Picasso
(Spring 2024)

During the spring semester of my second year, I embarked on my second honors experience! This Neurons to Picasso class explored the intersection of my major of neuroscience and one of my lifelong passions – art. From extraordinary neuroscientists such as Santiago Ramón y Cajal, to renowned artists like Pablo Picasso and Paul Cézanne, we investigated their ideas to create our own. Part of this seminar took us to Paris, France where we applied what we learned throughout the course.

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During our weekly class meetings, we discussed neuroanatomy, physics, philosophy, art history, and art techniques. Many of our discussions revolved around why humans make art and humans’ subjective (or objective?!) perception of reality.

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While in Paris, our class went to legendary art museums, namely the Louvre, Musée d’Orsay, Musée de l’Homme, and Musée de l’Orangerie. We learned about street art and the meanings behind graffiti art in various streets of Paris. And best of all, we got to experience the Parisian food and culture that will carry memories with me for a lifetime!

What I Learned & How I Was Impacted

I am grateful to have gone on this trip. It grew my pre-existing love for neuroscience and art through our class discussions and time in Paris. Because I was simultaneously taking NS 2002 along with this class, my learning was reinforced, and concepts were made clearer to me. I took a great deal away from our labs where we applied our own art skills and the neuroscience concepts we discussed. With this, I enjoyed the class dynamic as everyone had their own unique ideas and suggestions about both neuroscience and art. While in Paris, I was deeply moved by the incredibly art pieces I have always heard of growing up, such as the Mona Lisa and Starry Night. I became more curious about the foundation of art, such as what prevalent issues in the societies of the artists contributed to their artwork, and how science and art were intertwined at the time period of the paintings. I also learned to think about science and art from scratch: strip away all of the pre-existing knowledge that you know and try to understand how concepts even began in the first place. How would early hominins look at tool-making, at art and science? By building our class from the ground above, we were able to have a wholistic look into human creativity and civilization.
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