For Leonardo da Vinci, the diagram was more than a sketch—it was a "scaffold for the artist's imagination." This post explores how the Renaissance master used disegno (drawing) and misura (measure) to transform the static rules of geometry into dynamic observations of the natural world, from the flight of birds to the Vitruvian Man.

This 2013 conversation with artist and Professor of contemporary drawing Richard Talbot, explores the intersections of linear perspective, diagrammatic drawing, and scientific thought. The dialogue traverses the history of the "Unmoved Onlooker," the structural potential of the blank page, and the tension between mathematical systems and intuitive creation in contemporary art.

How can a single geometric "jewel" replace 500 pages of dense quantum algebra? We explore the evolution of physics diagrams, from Richard Feynman’s famous doodles to the multi-dimensional "Amplituhedron," and end with a look at Alejandro Guijarro’s haunting photography of quantum blackboards.

Can a diagram lie? This post explores math's love/hate relationship with the image, from puzzles that deceive the eye to the formalist banishment of drawings from proofs. Discover how Surrealist artists like Man Ray found poetry in the very models that the mathematicians had left behind.

Mentored by Marcel Duchamp, the artists Arakawa and Gins created a masterpiece of diagrammatic art: The Mechanism of Meaning. This post explores their "playful physics," a series of 80 large-scale panels that use Zen koans, philosophical puzzles, and diagrams to make us "think through the eyes."

Can a drawing be a haiku? This post explores Clouds, Glands, Tributaries, a work that juxtaposes scientific diagrams of storm clouds, eyelid glands, and river systems. It's a "visual haiku" that uses the "power of disproportion" to unlock a subjective and poetic meditation on water.

From mapping the soul to regulating marriage, the medieval diagram was an essential tool for thought. This post explores the incredible variety of these visual systems—from the Zodiac Man to the Guidonian Hand—before a deep dive into the strange and beautiful work of Opicinus de Canistris, a cleric whose visionary drawings combined scientific maps with divine revelations.

Long before modern science, alchemists used intricate diagrams to map the secrets of the cosmos and the soul. We explore the history of these symbolic images, their adoption by figures like Isaac Newton, and their surprising connection to the psychological theories of C.G. Jung.

Since 1986, artist Mark Manders has been creating a 'self-portrait as a building,' treating his entire body of work as a single, evolving architectural space. We explore how he uses the diagram as a tool to organize his thoughts, creating laboratory-like sculptures that blend subjective poetry with objective science.

J.M.W. Turner is remembered as the master of sublime, atmospheric landscapes. Yet for thirty years, he was also the Royal Academy’s Professor of Perspective. While his lectures were notoriously incoherent, the beautiful and lucid diagrams he created for them tell another story—revealing the objective, analytical mind that was the hidden scaffold of his romantic genius.