Darwin & the Arts

Here's a link to a great Cambridge exhibit on the cross-fertilization of Darwin's ideas and the arts.

From the program: "Darwin’s ideas resonated in art of many different kinds, from landscape and animal painting to portrayals of prehistoric man and contemporary society. The interchange between science and art was a two-way street, and the exhibition explores both directions: the sorts of visual imagery that filled Darwin’s own mind and imagination as he formed his theories, as well as the central Darwinian themes that inspired artists-the vast age of the earth, the fierce ’struggle for existence’ that led to natural selection, and the evolution of man himself from an apelike ancestor. Darwin’s response to the beauties of nature and sense of kinship between humans and other species equally gave rise to some of the most lyrical art of the nineteenth century.

Thanks to John Watson for the link.

Exhibition sections:

Darwin’s Eye
The History of the Earth
Struggle for Existence
Animal Kin
The Descent of Humankind
Darwin, Beauty and Sexual Selection
Darwin and the Impressionists