Droga5’s Sublime Ad for Christie’s Captures the Power of a Leonardo Painting Without Even Showing It
When a masterpiece looks back
- AdWeek

Sometimes, not showing an artwork can be as powerful as showing it. This was true in Grey London’s story-rich campaign for the Tate Modern back in 2015. And it’s especially true of Droga5’s lovely, almost transcendental new spot for auction house Christie’s—which promotes the upcoming sale of a long-lost Leonardo da Vinci painting by not showing it at all.

Instead, the spot focuses on people’s reactions to the painting. And they are fascinating to watch.

Droga5 worked with portrait photographer Nadav Kander to place a hidden camera beneath the painting of Christ known as the Salvator Mundi (“Saviour of the World”)—confirmed over the past decade as a Leonardo work, after centuries in obscurity—at Christie’s New York, where it currently resides.

As people walked past the painting, the camera captured their often visceral response to it—in Droga5’s words, “painting a picture of the overwhelming emotion that this painting, its beauty and its divine subject matter stirred in all who came to see it.”

Find AdWeek's full piece including the film here. For more of Nadav's work, please visit Chelsea.com.