Unraveling the brain's mysteries in art and science

What defines human beings: their thoughts, their feelings, their souls? Many religions and schools of thought have found their own answers to this question. In ancient Egypt, people associated the human soul with the image of a bird that ascends to heaven after death. One such "soul bird" — 2,400 years old — is now on display at Bonn's Bundeskunsthalle in a major exhibition on the human brain.

Since ancient times, people have formed images of what goes on inside our skulls. The philosopher Aristotle, for example, considered the brain to be a cooling unit of the bloodstream. In 2011, Israeli artist Yaron Steinberg designed this brain sculpture as an archive of cardboard boxes and drawers full of thoughts and memories. Even Christmas lights have their place in it.

German artist Isa Genzken approached the question of the brain in an almost medical manner: "My Brain" is the name of her 2010 photographic work, for which she used CT images of her own head. This 3D X-ray examination produces cross-sectional images of the body. Genzken's work functions as a self-portrait; after all, the brain is as unique as one's face.

Over the centuries, the medical field worked hard at researching the human brain, but 20th-century imaging techniques brought a true breakthrough. Yet many questions remain unanswered: How do our thoughts and feelings come about? This painting by Maria Lassnig (1919-2014) titled "Inspiration" shows a green creature holding up an index finger in a friendly way above a reclining couple.

Rene Descartes (1596-1650) was a French philosopher, mathematician and natural scientist. It was he who coined the maxim "cogito ergo sum": "I think, therefore I am." The inscribed skull of the famous thinker, whose writings were banned by the Pope after his death, is today one of the most precious objects in the Musee de l'Homme in Paris — and can now be viewed at the exhibition in Bonn.

What separates science from religion? That's what Chinese artist Lu Yang is investigating. In her computer game simulation, the Buddhist deities of the four elements — earth, water, fire and air — make contact with our brain by means of deep brain stimulation. Today, medicine is already using "brain pacemakers" to treat Parkinson's disease, epilepsy and depression.

Are my ego and my body the same? Many people ask themselves that question, although dualism — the separation of body and soul (or body and spirit) — constantly shapes our thinking, even about dying and death. The question of free will also ties into this subject, or the question of how we dream. The German-American Kiki Smith called her two-color etching from 1992 simply "Traum" ("Dream").

What happens to the soul after death? This was a question also pondered by the Christians of the Middle Ages. This wooden sculpture from Lake Constance, "Christ with the Soul of Mary," from around 1320, reflects this. Christ carries the soul of his mother Mary in the form of a child in his arms. The depiction symbolizes the conviction that the soul is an independent entity of the body.

Human figures argue, fight, suffer, hurt, transform, and observe — British artist Richard Ennis offers glimpses of a human skull in his 1991 painting. The sometimes disturbing scenes overtly reflect human emotions. It seems as though Ennis was inspired by the anatomy books of his childhood.

The German artist Max Ernst (1891-1976) was interested in the work of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud as well as the art of mentally ill people. He painted this portrait around 1913 during his college student days in Bonn, where he studied philosophy, psychology and art history, among other subjects. The world around the person depicted in this image literally shatters.

The human brain is a phenomenon, with hordes of scientists, thinkers, artists and everyday people having tried to unravel it. The exhibition "The Brain in Art & Science" at the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn now brings together many questions and answers — across all fields of knowledge. The show runs through June 26