Gabriel Orozco at kurimanzutto, Mexico City, 2024

The Vitruvian Man (c. 1487) is a study of the proportions of the human body inscribed within the absolute forms of a circle and a square, using metalpoint, pen and ink, with touches of watercolour on paper. One of Leonardo Da Vinci’s best-known works, the study is stored in the Gallerie dell’Accademia di Venezia in Italy, and only rarely exhibited due to its fragility as a work on paper.

Da Vinci was influenced by the theories of the Roman architect Vitruvius in his treaty “De Architectura” (1st century BC). In his study, Da Vinci drew a male body with his hands and feet touching the perimeter of a circle, his navel at its precise center. Another position of the nude body is superimposed with his feet standing on the bottom of a square while his arms extend outward touching its equal sides, the area directly below the navel becomes the center of the square, per Da Vinci’s own findings.

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