‘DaVinci The Exhibition’ at The Henry Ford is Exciting and Informative!
As a millennial who doesn’t know much about Leonardo da Vinci beyond the basics, the “Mona Lisa,” “The Last Supper,” and the idea that he drew some kind of early flying machine, I went into DaVinci The Exhibition at The Henry Ford museum in Dearborn, MI, with mild curiosity but low expectations. I figured it would be another quiet museum show full of long text panels and paintings I wouldn’t fully appreciate. I was very wrong. This exhibit not only made DaVinci’s world feel accessible but also surprisingly fun.
[Warning: Spoilers from DaVinci The Exhibition at The Henry Ford are below!]
Leonardo DaVinci comes alive at The Henry Ford museum
The moment you walk into The Gallery by General Motors, where the show is housed, you’re met with an atmosphere that feels alive rather than academic. Instead of hushed reverence and tiny font labels, there’s motion, color, and music. The exhibition, which runs through May 3, 2026, is filled with life-sized models of DaVinci’s inventions, intricate studies of his most famous artworks, and interactive stations that make you feel like you’re exploring his mind rather than studying it.
For someone like me, who had always thought of Leonardo DaVinci as just a painter, seeing the breadth of his interests was eye-opening. There are over sixty-five full-scale inventions reconstructed from his sketches: flying machines, pulley systems, water pumps, and even a precursor to the helicopter. Standing in front of them, it’s hard not to be amazed by how futuristic his thinking was. What really helped, though, was how clearly the exhibit explains his process. The displays don’t assume you already understand Renaissance science; they invite you into it. They show how DaVinci studied birds and air currents, how he took notes on anatomy and proportion, and how all that fed into his art and inventions.
But my absolute favorite part—and what made the whole experience click for me—was the interactive aspect. So many exhibits let you look but not touch. This one encourages you to do both. There are gears to spin, levers to pull, and mechanisms you can actually operate to see how his ideas worked in motion. At one point, I spent way too long experimenting with one of his mechanical devices that demonstrated how motion could be transferred through pulleys. Feeling that design come to life under your hands gave me a new kind of appreciation for DaVinci’s genius. It stopped being abstract history and became something real, something you could almost imagine him tinkering with centuries ago.
DaVinci the Exhibition blends art and science
The exhibit also weaves his art into the experience in a way that feels connected rather than separate. There are extensive studies of “The Mona Lisa” and “The Last Supper,” along with replicas of some of his other incredible works, with explanations of his techniques and theories of composition and perspective. Even as someone who’s not particularly into Renaissance art, I found myself fascinated by the connections between his paintings and his scientific experiments. The art and the machines suddenly made sense together; they were both part of one restless mind trying to understand the world.
If I had one small critique, it’s that the exhibition is dense. There’s so much to see that even after about ninety minutes, I felt like I’d only scratched the surface. You could easily spend two hours or more taking it all in. And because it’s a limited-time show, it does get crowded, especially around the more popular interactive sections. But honestly, those minor inconveniences didn’t take away from the experience.
I walked out of DaVinci The Exhibition feeling unexpectedly inspired. I went in knowing next to nothing and came out realizing that DaVinci wasn’t just a historical figure; he was a curious, creative human being—kind of like anyone who’s ever stared at something ordinary and wondered, “how could this work better?” It’s an exhibition that turns history into something living and relatable.
Overall, it’s engaging, beautifully presented, and surprisingly hands-on. Even if you’re not an art or science person, it’s impossible not to leave feeling impressed. The Henry Ford has managed to make a 500-year-old genius feel genuinely relevant in 2025—and that’s no small feat.
DaVinci The Exhibition runs at The Henry Ford museum through May, so grab your tickets and witness this genius yourself! Are you planning on checking out this incredible exhibit? If you already have, which part was your favorite? Let us know all your thoughts @BoxSeatBabes on all social media platforms.
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