Leonardo da Vinci Could Appear on the New €100 Banknote

Leonardo da Vinci could appear on a future €100 banknote, but the design has not been approved. On July 23, 2026, the European Central Bank revealed ten shortlisted proposals for the next complete redesign of euro banknotes. Five use the theme “European culture” and five use “Rivers and birds.” Every European Culture series places Leonardo on the €100 denomination because the ECB had already assigned him to the motif “museums and exhibitions.”

Definition: The proposed Leonardo €100 note is not one single finished banknote. It is a shared motif interpreted in five different shortlisted design series. The ECB will choose one complete series, not simply vote on Leonardo’s portrait in isolation.

Last reviewed: 2026-07-24. Updated after the ECB published the shortlisted designs on July 23, 2026.

The public survey closes on September 21, 2026. The ECB Governing Council expects to select the final design around the end of 2026. New notes will require further development, testing and production and are not expected to enter circulation immediately.

What Are the Key Facts About Leonardo da Vinci and the Proposed €100 Banknote?

In one minute: Leonardo is a confirmed motif within the European Culture option, but neither that theme nor any individual design has won. The rival nature series replaces him with an avocet above a river mouth. Europeans can comment through an online survey, while a separate representative survey is being conducted in parallel. The ECB, not the public vote alone, will make the final decision.

Is Leonardo da Vinci Confirmed for the New €100 Banknote?

No. Leonardo is confirmed as the person assigned to the €100 denomination within the European Culture theme. That is not the same as being confirmed for the banknote that will eventually enter circulation.

The ECB is comparing ten shortlisted design series. Five belong to European Culture and therefore include Leonardo. Five belong to Rivers and Birds and therefore do not. The Governing Council may select either theme and one design proposal within it after reviewing jury conclusions, technical assessments and two public surveys.

Will Leonardo Appear on the Final €100 Banknote?

Why Was Leonardo da Vinci Chosen for the €100 Note?

Short answer: Leonardo was chosen because the ECB associated him with museums and exhibitions rather than with a single artwork.

The ECB did not present Leonardo merely as a famous painter. It placed him within a broader story about museums, exhibitions and Europe’s shared cultural spaces. That pairing matters because Leonardo’s legacy crosses several fields and national histories.

Born in the Republic of Florence in 1452, Leonardo worked in Florence, Milan, Rome and France. His surviving paintings, drawings, notebooks and technical studies are now dispersed across major European collections. The Mona Lisa is in the Louvre. The Last Supper remains in Milan. The Vitruvian Man is held by the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice. The Lady with an Ermine is in Kraków. His manuscripts are divided among institutions in Italy, France, Spain and the United Kingdom, while his mirror-written notebooks remain one of the clearest records of his working process.

This geographic spread makes Leonardo useful as a European symbol. He is strongly associated with Italy, yet his career and later reception cannot be contained within one modern national border. He represents the movement of artists, patrons, ideas, objects and knowledge across Europe.

What Does Leonardo Symbolize in the Proposed Series?

In the cultural series, each denomination joins a historical figure to a living social space. Leonardo is paired with museums and exhibitions rather than with a single masterpiece. The reverse is intended to show adults and children encountering forms of art, including modern or contemporary work.

This creates a bridge between cultural inheritance and present-day participation. Leonardo represents artistic memory. The museum scene represents how that memory is preserved, interpreted, questioned and renewed by later generations.

Editorial analysis: The pairing also prevents the note from becoming a simple monument to genius. Leonardo’s face is only one half of the concept. The public-facing museum on the reverse shifts attention from possession of culture to access to culture.

What Would the Leonardo €100 Banknote Show?

Short answer: The front shows Leonardo da Vinci, while the reverse represents museums and exhibitions.

The required motif is consistent across all five European Culture finalists:

• Front: Leonardo da Vinci as the historical personality connected to the €100 denomination.
• Reverse: Museums and exhibitions, represented through visitors engaging with art.
• Traditional colour: The €100 denomination remains recognisably green in the shortlisted concepts, although hues, composition and emphasis vary.
• Shared series logic: The Leonardo note must visually belong to the same family as the other five denominations.

The five designers did not produce identical portraits. The jury report shows that each proposal uses a different visual language. Some are classical and portrait-led. Others crop faces, emphasize human features, use stronger geometric systems or connect the figure more directly with the activity shown on the reverse.

This means social-media images labelled “the new Leonardo €100 note” can be misleading. A circulating image may show only one finalist. It is not yet the official future banknote.

Who Else Appears in the European Culture Banknote Proposals?

Leonardo is one part of a six-note cultural narrative. The historical figures and the shared spaces assigned to them are:

The sequence does more than rank famous Europeans by denomination. It moves through forms of cultural participation: performance, music, education, reading, viewing art and civic assembly.

What Is the Alternative to Leonardo on the €100 Banknote?

Short answer: If the ECB selects Rivers and Birds, the €100 note will feature an avocet at a river mouth instead of Leonardo.

If the ECB selects Rivers and Birds, Leonardo will not appear. The €100 note would instead show a river mouth and an avocet feeding or sweeping its bill across a mudflat. The reverse would feature the European Council and the Council of the European Union.

The nature theme follows the course of water from mountain spring to sea while pairing each stage with a bird and a European institution.

Comparison: European Culture grounds shared identity in named people and social institutions. Rivers and Birds grounds it in border-crossing ecosystems and common political institutions. The choice is not simply “Leonardo versus a bird.” It is a choice between two different visual definitions of Europe.

Can the Public Vote for Leonardo da Vinci?

Short answer: The public can rate the shortlisted design series, but the survey does not directly or automatically elect Leonardo.

People across Europe can take part in the ECB’s online survey until September 21, 2026. The survey concerns the ten shortlisted design proposals. A separate research company is also asking the same questions to a representative sample of euro-area citizens.

The public response is influential but not binding. The Governing Council will consider:

• the Design Contest Jury’s conclusions;
• technical assessment of the proposals;
• the open online survey;
• the separate representative survey.

The ECB says it will publish a report on the survey results after the final design concept has been selected.

How Were the Ten Euro Banknote Designs Selected?

The shortlist emerged from a multi-stage European design contest rather than an internal sketching exercise.

1. Open call: The ECB launched the design contest in July 2025.
2. Applications: It received 1,241 submissions from designers in every EU country.
3. Second phase: Twenty-five designers were selected to produce complete series.
4. Final submissions: Designers submitted 39 proposals by April 24, 2026: 16 for European Culture and 23 for Rivers and Birds.
5. Anonymous review: Proposals were assessed under identification codes to protect impartiality.
6. Jury shortlist: An independent 21-member jury selected five proposals for each theme.

The jury included one member nominated by the central bank of each euro-area country. Its fields of expertise included graphic design, industrial design, architecture, communication and neuroscience. It assessed creativity, thematic coherence, accessibility, public appeal and technical suitability.

This context is important because banknote design is not judged like a poster or illustration. A successful note must work at pocket scale, survive heavy use, support authentication, remain legible, provide denomination cues and accommodate security elements that are not fully visible in an early concept.

Why Is the ECB Redesigning Euro Banknotes?

The redesign has four stated goals: security, accessibility, sustainability and stronger public identification with the currency.

Security

Reproduction technology changes. New banknote series allow central banks to introduce improved features that are harder to counterfeit and easier for the public and cash-handling systems to authenticate.

Accessibility

The new notes are intended to be easier to recognise and handle, including for people with visual impairments. Denomination contrast, dimensions, tactile elements and other cues form part of the later technical-development stage.

Sustainability

The ECB aims to reduce the environmental footprint of banknotes through durability, materials and production processes. A note that lasts longer may require fewer replacements during its circulation life.

European identity

Current euro banknotes use fictional windows, gateways and bridges representing broad architectural eras. The designs avoided privileging one country’s real monument. The new process asks whether shared cultural personalities or natural systems can create a more relatable image of Europe without turning the currency into a competition among national symbols.

How Would the New Notes Differ From Current Euro Banknotes?

The first euro banknote series entered circulation in 2002. The later Europa series modernised the designs and security features but retained the underlying “ages and styles” concept. The 2026 shortlist represents the first proposed complete thematic redesign since the euro notes were introduced.

How Did Euro Banknote Design Reach This Point?

Will Current Euro Banknotes Become Invalid?

Short answer: No. Current euro banknotes will retain their value and continue circulating during the transition.

No. The ECB states that previous-series notes will retain their value and continue to circulate alongside the new series. A future design launch does not mean households must immediately exchange their cash.

A gradual transition is normal. Banks, retailers, cash machines, sorting equipment and authentication devices need time to adapt. Existing notes also remain in circulation until they wear out or are withdrawn under a separately announced process.

Has Leonardo da Vinci Appeared on Money Before?

Yes. Leonardo already has a strong relationship with European currency imagery.

Italy’s national side of the €1 coin shows the Vitruvian Man, his celebrated study of human proportion. Italy also issued a 2019 commemorative €2 coin marking 500 years since his death, using a detail from Lady with an Ermine.

Before the euro, Leonardo appeared on Italy’s 50,000-lire banknote issued in the late twentieth century. His image has also appeared on coins, medals and commemorative issues beyond Italy.

The proposed €100 note would still represent a major change. It would place Leonardo within the common banknote series used across the euro area, rather than on one country’s national coin face or former national currency.

What Would It Mean to Put Leonardo on a Common European Banknote?

A banknote is both an economic instrument and a mass-produced image. Unlike a museum label, book or documentary, it reaches people without asking for their attention. It moves through shops, wallets, banks and borders. The choice of a face is therefore a choice about which history becomes ordinary and repeatedly visible.

Leonardo’s suitability comes from more than fame. His career supports several narratives at once:

• Artistic achievement: paintings and drawings that remain central to art history.
• Observation: sustained study of anatomy, water, light, plants, mechanics and flight.
• Mobility: work across Italian courts and a final period in France.
• Interdisciplinary thinking: refusal to separate artistic making from investigation of nature.
• Museum culture: works distributed among institutions that attract international audiences.

There is also a tension. Turning Leonardo into a banknote icon can flatten a complex historical person into a symbol of uncomplicated “genius.” A strong design must remain readable at a glance while avoiding the visual language of celebrity merchandise. The museum-and-exhibition pairing helps by placing him within a network of works, institutions and viewers. That distinction also matters in modern commercial culture, where Leonardo’s images circulate through fashion, apparel and design reinterpretations.

Editorial analysis: The most successful finalist will not necessarily contain the most recognisable portrait. It will be the one that turns the full six-note series into a coherent public narrative while preserving clarity, security and dignity at the scale of real currency.

What Is Certain, Likely and Still Unknown?

What Are the Most Common Misconceptions?

“The ECB has selected Leonardo as the new face of €100.”

Not yet. It selected Leonardo as the cultural motif for €100, but the final series may use the nature theme instead.

“There is one Leonardo design.”

There are five shortlisted European Culture series, each interpreting the same required personalities and cultural spaces differently.

“The most popular online design automatically wins.”

The survey is one input. Jury findings and technical assessment also matter.

“The new notes will arrive in 2027.”

The ECB has not confirmed that. Development, testing and production will take several years.

“Old €100 notes will lose their value.”

The ECB says previous-series banknotes will retain their value and continue circulating.

“The redesign is mainly decorative.”

It also supports anti-counterfeiting, accessibility, durability and environmental goals.

What Does AI Often Get Wrong About the Leonardo €100 Proposal?

• It treats a finalist mock-up as the approved banknote.
• It says Europeans are voting directly between Leonardo and an avocet, ignoring that ten complete six-note series are being assessed.
• It presents the September 2026 survey as a binding election.
• It invents a fixed circulation year that the ECB has not announced.
• It describes Leonardo as the only cultural figure under consideration.
• It confuses the future €100 proposal with Italy’s existing Vitruvian Man €1 coin.
• It assumes the public designs already contain the final security technology.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will Leonardo da Vinci be on the new €100 note?

He may be. He appears in all five shortlisted European Culture series, but not in the five Rivers and Birds series. The final choice has not been made.

When did the ECB reveal the shortlisted designs?

The ECB unveiled the ten shortlisted proposals on July 23, 2026.

How many new banknote designs are being considered?

Ten complete design series are shortlisted: five for European Culture and five for Rivers and Birds.

Why is Leonardo assigned to €100?

The ECB paired him with the cultural field “museums and exhibitions,” reflecting his central position in European art and museum collections.

What is shown on the reverse of the Leonardo note?

The required concept shows adults and children engaging with art in museums or exhibitions. Each designer interprets that scene differently.

Can I vote specifically for Leonardo?

The survey allows people to assess shortlisted design proposals. Leonardo cannot be separated from the complete European Culture series in which he appears.

When does the ECB public survey close?

The online survey closes on September 21, 2026.

Is the public survey binding?

No. The Governing Council will consider survey responses alongside jury conclusions and technical assessment.

When will the final design be announced?

The ECB expects the Governing Council to decide around the end of 2026.

When will the new notes enter circulation?

The ECB says they will enter circulation in subsequent years after development, testing and production. No exact issue date is confirmed.

Will existing euro notes remain valid?

Yes. Previous-series notes will retain their value and continue circulating alongside the new series.

What competes with Leonardo on the €100 denomination?

Under Rivers and Birds, the €100 note shows a river mouth and an avocet, with the European Council and Council of the European Union on the reverse.

Who appears on the proposed €50 note?

Miguel de Cervantes appears in the European Culture concept, paired with libraries and reading.

Who appears on the proposed €20 note?

Marie Skłodowska-Curie appears in the cultural concept, paired with universities and schools.

Who appears on the proposed €10 note?

Ludwig van Beethoven appears in the cultural concept, paired with music and a song festival.

Who appears on the proposed €5 note?

Maria Callas appears in the cultural concept, paired with performing arts and street performance.

Who appears on the proposed €200 note?

Bertha von Suttner appears in the cultural concept, paired with public squares and civic life.

Why are euro banknotes being redesigned?

The ECB wants improved security, accessibility, sustainability and designs that feel more relatable to Europeans.

Has Leonardo appeared on euro currency before?

Yes. His Vitruvian Man appears on Italy’s national side of the €1 coin, and Italy issued a Leonardo commemorative €2 coin in 2019.

Is the social-media image of Leonardo on €100 official?

It may show an official shortlisted proposal, but it is not a final approved banknote. Check which of the five cultural finalists it represents and whether the image comes from the ECB.

Will the €500 banknote return in the new series?

No €500 denomination is included in the redesign contest. The proposed series covers €5, €10, €20, €50, €100 and €200.

Does the redesign mean cash is being abolished?

No. The ECB describes the redesign as part of its commitment to keeping cash secure, efficient and available as public money.

Why Leonardo da Vinci Rather Than Michelangelo, Raphael or Van Gogh?

Editorial analysis: The ECB has not published a direct comparison between Leonardo and artists who were not selected. The assessment below interprets Leonardo’s fit against the ECB’s published themes and criteria; it is not an official explanation of why another artist was excluded.

Leonardo is unusually suitable for a common European banknote because his reputation is not limited to one artistic medium. Michelangelo is closely associated with sculpture, monumental fresco and papal Rome. Raphael represents High Renaissance painting and courtly humanism. Vincent van Gogh has extraordinary public recognition, but his career belongs to a later and more personal narrative of modern art. Leonardo connects painting, drawing, anatomy, mechanics, engineering, architecture and the study of nature within a single internationally recognisable identity.

Editorial analysis: Leonardo is not necessarily “better” than these artists. He is better suited to the specific role created by the ECB: a recognisable figure who can represent cultural heritage, museums, learning, investigation and cross-border European memory at the same time.

Why Did the ECB Pair Leonardo with Museums Instead of the Mona Lisa?

Editorial analysis based on the official motif structure: The ECB has defined Leonardo as the personality and museums and exhibitions as the shared cultural space. It has not published the full reasoning below.

The motif system avoids turning each denomination into an advertisement for one famous object. The front identifies a historical person. The reverse shows a shared cultural space in which Europeans participate today.

Using the Mona Lisa as the main reverse motif would create several problems. It would make the note heavily dependent on one painting and one museum. It could also reduce Leonardo’s wider legacy to a single work. Museums and exhibitions create a more inclusive idea. They cover historical painting, contemporary art, street art, education, conservation and public access. Readers researching reusable museum images can consult our guide to high-resolution Leonardo images, downloads and rights.

The choice also shifts the design from ownership to participation. The Mona Lisa belongs to a specific collection. A museum scene can represent visitors, families, students, curators and artists throughout Europe.

Why Did the Original Euro Banknotes Avoid Real Historical Figures?

The first euro banknotes used fictional windows, gateways and bridges based on broad architectural periods. The structures were intentionally generic. They suggested communication and connection without placing one country’s monument, ruler or artist above another’s.

This was a practical solution for a currency shared by countries with different histories and national symbols. A real cathedral, palace or portrait could have been read as a political preference. Fictional architecture allowed every country to recognise a period of European history without claiming that the depicted structure belonged to one national tradition.

The proposed cultural series changes that strategy. Instead of avoiding recognisable people, it selects figures whose work has moved across borders and become part of a shared European cultural memory. The challenge is no longer to remove national associations completely. It is to show why a historically situated person can still carry meaning beyond a single nation.

Why Is the ECB Moving from Fictional Bridges to Real People or Nature?

Editorial analysis: The ECB says the next series should be more relatable, inclusive and representative of Europe’s identity and values. The comparison with the emotional distance of fictional architecture is this article’s interpretation of that stated objective.

Fictional architecture was politically neutral, but it was also emotionally distant. Real people, cultural activities, birds and landscapes offer clearer stories that viewers can recognise and discuss.

The two shortlisted themes test two different ways of building common identity:

• European Culture: Europe is represented through people, creative achievement, education and shared public spaces.
• Rivers and Birds: Europe is represented through ecosystems that cross borders and institutions responsible for shared action.

This is why the redesign has attracted more attention than a technical currency update. It asks what Europe wants its most widely circulated public images to communicate.

Why Is This One of Europe’s Largest Public Design Projects?

A museum exhibition may reach thousands or millions of visitors. A successful banknote series can be handled by hundreds of millions of people over many years. It must function in shops, banks, vending machines, cash centres and private homes across different languages and national cultures.

The scale is not only numerical. Every note must combine portraiture or natural imagery with typography, denomination recognition, tactile accessibility, anti-counterfeiting technology, machine readability, legal requirements and durable production.

The winning design will therefore become more than an illustration. It will become a repeated public interface between people and the European monetary system. That makes the selection a major act of public visual communication, even for people who never consciously study the design.

Continue Exploring Leonardo da Vinci

These related guides extend the subjects introduced in this article without repeating the ECB redesign story.

Related Entities

When Should This Article Be Updated?

• After September 21, 2026: confirm that the public survey has closed and add any ECB participation figures or published findings.
• When the Governing Council selects a design: replace “could appear” language where appropriate, identify the winning proposal code and move rejected concepts into historical context.
• When technical development is announced: add confirmed security, accessibility and production details without assuming that competition artwork is identical to the issued note.
• When a circulation date is announced: update the timeline, FAQ, excerpt and meta description.
• If image-use terms change: recheck every ECB proposal image and retain proof of the applicable permission or editorial-use basis.

Versioning rule: Never overwrite the distinction between the July 2026 shortlist and the later final banknote. Preserve the shortlist as a dated stage in the design history.

How Was This Article Researched?

This article uses the ECB as the primary authority for the shortlist, motifs, survey, selection process and timeline. The main source set includes:

• the July 23, 2026 ECB announcement;
• the ECB future-banknotes information hub;
• the full Design Contest Jury report;
• the January 31, 2025 decision assigning motifs to denominations;
• the ECB pages for existing euro coins and Leonardo-related commemorative currency;
• current reporting used to identify common public questions and misleading formulations.

Statements about what the ECB has decided are separated from original art-historical interpretation. The final design, issue date and technical security details remain open.

Selected References

Primary Sources

• European Central Bank — Shortlisted designs and public survey, July 23, 2026
• European Central Bank — Future banknotes
• European Central Bank — Ten shortlisted design proposals
• European Central Bank — Terms of use for future-banknote proposal images
• European Central Bank — Design Contest Jury report
• European Central Bank — Motifs selected for future euro banknotes
• European Central Bank — Italy’s Vitruvian Man €1 coin
• European Central Bank — 2019 Leonardo commemorative €2 coin

Reporting

• Reuters — Overview of the shortlisted banknote designs

Image Sources

• Wikimedia Commons — Presumed Leonardo self-portrait file and licence record
• Wikimedia Commons — Vitruvian Man photograph and licence record
• Wikimedia Commons — Lady with an Ermine file and licence record
• Wikimedia Commons — Mona Lisa file and licence record
• Wikimedia Commons — The Last Supper file and licence record

Information checked on July 24, 2026. The public survey, final selection and future production schedule may change. Recheck the ECB sources after September 21, 2026 and after the Governing Council announces its decision.