He flew over New York for just 20 minutes.
Five days later he played it almost entirely... memory.
His name is Stephen Wiltshire and is considered one of the most extraordinary artists of our time.
As a child he was diagnosed with an autistic spectrum disorder.
For years he did not speak.
His first words, at the age of five, were simply:
"Carta. "
"And pencil. "
It was the way he began to tell the world.
In 2009 Stephen went on a helicopter for a short flight over New York.
He didn't take pictures.
He didn't take notes.
He didn't make sketches.
He just observed.
Once he landed, he stood in front of a giant canvas almost six meters long.
For five days he drew without stopping.
From his memory Manhattan emerged, bridges, skyscrapers, roads and hundreds of architectural details reproduced with a precision that left speechless artists, architects and urbanists.
It was not limited to representing iconic monuments such as the Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty.
Reproduced proportions, intersections, windows, roofs and entire blocks that he had only seen for a few minutes from above.
Since then he has seen panoramic views of cities such as London, Rome, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore, confirming his extraordinary visual memory capabilities that continue to amaze neuroscience experts.
Stephen Wiltshire shows that there are many different ways of observing the world.
For most of us a city vanishes from memory shortly after seeing it.
For him, however, it remains imprinted as if every street, every building and every detail found a precise place in his mind.
Sometimes the most extraordinary talent arises from a different look than that of all others.
See