The Drawings of Santiago Ramn y Cajal

• OPENING RECEPTION: Thursday, September 7, 6-9 pm
• TOURS: Saturdays and Sundays at 1:30 and 3:30 pm beginning Sept. 16
• SYMPOSIUM with Drs. Alfonso Araque, Claudia Krebs and Larry Swanson at the UBC
  Alumni Centre: Thursday, September 7, 3-5 pm
• SEMINAR & READING GROUP: Plasticity at SFU Vancouver: Wednesdays, September
  20, October 4, 18, November 1 and 21 at 7 pm
• LECTURE with Catherine Malabou at the Liu Institute: Thursday, November 23 at 6 pm
• CONCERT with UBC Contemporary Players: Friday, December 1 at 2 pm

The Beautiful Brain is the first North American museum exhibition to present the
extraordinary drawings of Santiago Ramn y Cajal (1852″1934), a Spanish pathologist,
histologist and neuroscientist renowned for his discovery of neuron cells and their
structure, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in
1906. Known as the father of modern neuroscience, Cajal was also an exceptional artist
and studied as a teenager at the Academy of Arts in Huesca, Spain. He combined
scientific and artistic skills to produce arresting drawings with extraordinary scientific and
aesthetic qualities. A century after their completion, his drawings are still used in
contemporary medical publications to illustrate important neuroscience principles, and
continue to fascinate artists and visual art audiences. Eighty of Cajals drawings are
accompanied by a selection of contemporary neuroscience visualizations by
international scientists.

After countless hours at the microscope, Cajal was able to perceive that the brain was
made up of individual nerve cells or neurons rather than a tangled single web, which
was only decisively proven by electron microscopy in the 1950s and is the basis of
neuroscience today. His speculative drawings stemmed from an understanding of
aesthetics in their compressed detail and lucid composition, as he laboured to clearly
represent matter and processes that could not be seen.

Also presented at the Belkin, Thought Forms is an exhibition of works that includes
abstract paintings and drawings by Lawren Harris alongside illustrations from Charles
Leadbeaters The Chakras (1927) and Annie Besants Thought Forms (1901). These
early twentieth century works sought to visualize states of consciousness as well as
explore themes of spirituality and mysticism. In addition, a selection of Robert Wilsons
contemporary works from his Mind/Brain series will be exhibited.

The exhibition considers the emerging field of art and neuroscience and engages with
interdisciplinary research of scholars from the sciences and humanities alike. A
catalogue published by Abrams accompanies the exhibition, containing reproductions of
the exhibition drawings, commentary on each of the works and essays on Cajals life
and scientific contributions, artistic roots and achievements, as well as contemporary
neuroscience imaging techniques.

The Beautiful Brain: The Drawings of Santiago Ramn y Cajal was developed by the
Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota with the Instituto Cajal. The
exhibition at the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, University of British Columbia is
presented with the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health with support from the
VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation. Additional support is provided by the Canada Council
for the Arts, the British Columbia Arts Council, our Belkin Curators Forum members and
generous donors.

Visit us at:
UBC Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery
1825 Main Mall / Vancouver, BC / V6T 1Z2
www.belkin.ubc.ca / e. belkin.gallery@ubc.ca / 604.822.2759
Hours: Tuesday to Friday, 10 am to 5 pm / Saturday and Sunday, noon to 5 pm / Closed
Mondays and Holidays