An afternoon in the museum

Visiting the exhibition on Charles Darwin’s life and work can inspire vocations and strengthen confidence in observation and science. But most of all it enchants anyone by unfolding the wide variety of forms of life on Earth. Only a few are pictured there, it is true. Sufficient to draw lines to whatever direction you might think.

Among samples of animals and plants, living iguanas and turtles, facsimile edition of his books and a reproduction of his studio in Down House, the thing that captured my attention in a vivid way was a sequence of slides of the ‘sandwalk’ Darwin created in his park. He used to walk there everyday while thinking of his theories. It is awesome to contemplate the paths over which the scientist matured his findings and insights. More than ever the sandwalk shows how walking can be a way of reflection.

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photo: Museum of Art of São Paulo (Masp), by Ricardo Imaeda