The Beautiful Brain: communicating fundamental neuroscience through masterpieces of art

The Beautiful Brain is a documentary web series that breaks down borders between science and art. Five episodes retrace in a simple, but visually effective, way five key steps of brain development, using awe-inspiring masterpieces of art as analogies. This unconventional series focuses on fundamental research in neuroscience, the communication of which is not always easy and straightforward. In this article, we share our experience of how we tried to overcome the difficulties of communicating fundamental science to the lay audience. Moreover, we give insights into the path we followed to create The Beautiful Brain, with the hope that our experience may be an inspiration to other basic scientists who wish to communicate their own research.