- Year of creation: 1503-1506
- Painting technique: on wood
- Genre:
- Style: renaissance painting
- Exhibition: Louvre in Paris
Mona Lisa is the most famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci. This Italian Renaissance painter spent almost three years creating his work, to be more precise, between 1503 and 1506. "Mona Lisa" was painted in the technique on a wooden base measuring 77 x 53 cm and has a linear perspective. Today you can see this work of art in the Louvre.
The mysterious central figure in the image is probably the Florentine girl Lisa Gherardini, also known as Lisa del Giocondo Monn (hence the second name of the painting - Gioconda), whose husband commissioned a portrait from an Italian master of the brush. She is shown in the middle of the work, although you can see her rather curvaceous, feminine figure, the picture is fairly well balanced. The girl depicted in the picture is long, dark, straight and falling on her shoulders, almond-shaped, with thin eyebrows located above them, and small. The attention of the viewer is drawn to the most gentle, almost imperceptible smile. The whole work is complemented by the background - a rocky landscape of brownish-green mountains, slightly covered with fog.
The intriguing smile of the Gioconda has long been the subject of numerous discussions, and it is still not known what the artist had in mind when depicting the girl in this way. Hypotheses say that Mona Lisa's smile hides the girl's blessed, divine qualities or expressions of pride or ancient harmony. The vagueness and ambiguity of this work testifies to the artist's versatility. The viewer can afford any interpretation of this canvas.
The dominant colors of the image are dark, muted and cold. The painting is dominated by green, which conveys the color of Mona Lisi's clothes and also confirms that she is behind the forest. The composition is static but open. The lady herself, although in the foreground, is not marked with bright colors, which allows her to blend into the landscape. It is also associated with da Vinci's technique: soft chiaroscuro (Italian "sfumato" - smoke, shaded, blurry). The absence of sharp contours, saturated colors and the difficulty of diagnosing various elements make the atmosphere in the picture idyllic, fabulous and mysterious.
A characteristic feature of this picture is that from whatever angle you admire the portrait of Mona Lisa, she will always look directly at us. In addition, da Vinci used the technique of deceiving the sense of vision, using the shadows cast by the cheekbones. As a result, Mona Lisa's smile becomes more and more obvious when we look at her eyes and practically disappears after we look directly at her mouth.
The Mona Lisa has been an inspiration for many artists of later eras, including Marcel Duchamp, Fernand Léger, and Andy Warhol.
Leonardo da Vinci, the genius of the Renaissance, was not only one of the greatest artists, but also a great sculptor, musician, architect, natural scientist and talented inventor. He was born in 1452 and died in 1519. He is one of the lights of that brilliant period of European history of the 15th and 16th centuries, which gave the world the greatest artists. Everyone knows the names of Raphael, Titian, Bellini, Michelangelo - these are just some of the ones worthy of mention. However, no one has achieved such mastery in as many different areas as Leonardo da Vinci.
The Mona Lisa is considered Leonardo's most famous painting. We can see her in Paris, in the Louvre. Rows of long galleries, on the walls - precious evidence of the creative genius of man; each sketch, each picture is a storehouse of the historical past, living evidence of a select few.
Pass through a suite of rooms and you will come to a small gallery, the so-called Square Room, continuing these long galleries, but still isolated from them. There are only a few paintings on its walls, in the center there are several easy chairs, and always a group of silent visitors crowds in front of the painting in the center, to the left of the entrance, in front of the Mona Lisa.
Some visitors sit quietly contemplating and reflecting, perhaps, on the legends and traditions generated over the 400 years by this unique painting, or maybe they are trying to absorb all the beauty of this wonderful masterpiece, the most famous work of fine art and, of course, one of the greatest creations of man.
Next to this picture, the beautiful canvases surrounding it turn pale and lose their charm. Raphael, Titian, Perugino - here they seem to be just a worthy frame, worthy companions of this unsurpassed masterpiece.
Aren't they from the same era? Were their creators not fans of this great picture?
Raphael, this immortal genius, this excellent draftsman, was a passionate admirer of Leonardo's Mona Lisa and even, inspired by the masterpiece, left us his sketch of this picture.
Hanging in the Louvre, surrounded by beautiful paintings by Raphael and Perugino, the Mona Lisa is a great center of attraction for visitors from all over the world; among them art connoisseurs and critics, tourists and simply sentimental lovers.
Like many paintings of that period, this portrait did not escape the ravages of time and damage caused by the hands of inept restorers. But despite all this, he has not lost his special beauty and charm, and his beautiful face still radiates a calm and bewitching smile.
The painting is only 30 inches high and the Mona Lisa is shown sitting on a low folding chair; her body is turned to the left, her right hand rests on her left forearm. The face is turned towards the viewer at a slightly angle, while the brown eyes look straight at you.
Brown hair, parted in the middle and combed smoothly to the temples, falls in beautiful soft curls over her shoulders. A transparent veil is thrown over the head and curls over the shoulders. The originally greenish dress with a deep neckline is enlivened by lighter colored sleeves, which must have been yellow at one time.
In the background - a fantastic landscape with hills and mountains, warm and soft tones, above it a gradually brightening sky. Two columns at the edges of the landscape are closed by the current frame of the painting. In this canvas, all the details are beautiful, but the attention is primarily captured by the face.
The picture cannot be described in words: the longer you look at it, the more its effect on you increases, and you begin to feel that amazing charm that has captivated so many people over the centuries.
The famous Italian architect and historian Vasari, who lived in that brilliant era, wrote about the Mona Lisa:
“Leonardo agreed to paint for Francesco del Giocondo a portrait of Mona Lisa, his wife. He wrote it for four years and then left without completing it. Now this picture is owned by the French king Francis. Whoever wants to know how close art can come to the natural original, must carefully consider this beautiful head.
All its details are executed with the greatest zeal. The eyes have the same luster and are just as moisturized as in life. Around them we see faint reddish-blue circles, and the eyelashes could only be painted with a very skillful brush. You can see where the eyebrows are wider, and where they become thinner, emerging from the pores of the skin and rounding down. Everything is as natural as it can be portrayed. Small, beautifully carved nostrils, pinkish and delicate, executed with the greatest truthfulness. The mouth, the corners of the lips, where the pink shade turns into a natural vibrant complexion, are written so excellently that they seem not drawn, but as if living flesh and blood.
To someone who carefully looks at the hollow on the neck, it begins to seem that he is about to be able to see the pulse beat. Indeed, this portrait is painted so perfectly that it makes any established artist, and indeed anyone who looks at him, tremble with excitement.
The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci is one of the most famous paintings in the world.
This painting is now in the Louvre in Paris.
The creation of the picture and the model depicted on it were surrounded by many legends and rumors, and even today, when there are practically no white spots in the history of the Gioconda, myths and legends continue to circulate among many not particularly educated people.
Who is Mona Lisa?
The identity of the girl depicted today is quite known. It is believed that this is Lisa Gherardini, a famous resident of Florence, who belonged to an aristocratic, but impoverished family.
Gioconda is, apparently, her last name in marriage; her husband was a successful silk merchant, Francesco di Bartolomeo di Zanobi del Giocondo. It is known that Lisa and her husband gave birth to six children and led a measured life, typical for wealthy citizens of Florence.
One might think that the marriage was concluded for love, but at the same time it had additional benefits for both spouses: Lisa married a representative of a wealthier family, and Francesco became related to an old family through her. More recently, in 2015, scientists also discovered the grave of Lisa Gherardini - near one of the old Italian churches.
Painting creation
Leonardo da Vinci immediately took up this order and gave himself completely to it, literally with some kind of passion. And in the future, the artist was closely attached to his portrait, he carried it with him everywhere, and when, at a late age, he decided to leave Italy for France, he took La Gioconda with him along with several of his selected works.
What was the reason for such an attitude of Leonardo to this picture? It is believed that the great artist had a love affair with Lisa. However, it is possible that the painter appreciated this picture as an example of the highest flowering of his talent: "La Gioconda" really turned out to be unusual for its time.
Mona Lisa (La Gioconda) photo
It is interesting that Leonardo never gave the portrait to the customer, but took it with him to France, where King Francis I became its first owner. Perhaps such an act could be due to the fact that the master did not finish the canvas by the deadline and continued to paint the picture already after departure: the fact that Leonardo “never finished his painting” is reported by the famous Renaissance writer Giorgio Vasari.
Vasari, in his biography of Leonardo, reports many facts about the painting of this picture, but not all of them are reliable. So, he writes that the artist created the picture for four years, which is a clear exaggeration.
He also writes that while Lisa was posing, there was a whole group of jesters in the studio who entertained the girl, thanks to which Leonardo managed to portray her smile on her face, and not the sadness that was standard for that time. However, most likely, the story about the jesters Vasari himself composed for the entertainment of readers, using the girl's surname - after all, "La Gioconda" means "playing", "laughing".
However, it can be noted that Vasari was attracted in this picture not so much by realism as such, but by the amazing transmission of physical effects and the smallest details of the image. Apparently, the writer described the picture from memory or from the stories of other eyewitnesses.
Some myths about the painting
Back at the end of the 19th century, Gruyet wrote that the La Gioconda had been literally depriving people of their minds for several centuries. Many thought, contemplating this amazing portrait, which is why it has acquired many legends.
- According to one of them, in the portrait Leonardo depicted allegorically ... himself, which is allegedly confirmed by the coincidence of small details of the face;
- According to another, the picture depicts a young man in women's clothes - for example, Salai, a student of Leonardo;
- Another version suggests that the picture depicts just an ideal woman, some kind of abstract image. All of these versions are now recognized as erroneous.
Leonardo da Vinci "La Gioconda":
History of the painting
On August 22, 1911, the world-famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci "La Gioconda" disappeared from the Square Hall of the Louvre. At 1 pm, when the museum was opened to visitors, she was not there. Confusion broke out among the Louvre workers. It was announced to visitors that the museum was closed for the whole day due to a water main failure.
The prefect of police appeared with a detachment of inspectors. All exits from the Louvre were closed, the museum began to be searched. But it is impossible to check the ancient palace of the French kings with an area of 198 square meters in one day. However, by the end of the day, the police still managed to find a glazed case and a frame from the Mona Lisa on the landing of a small service staircase. The very same picture - a rectangle measuring 54x79 centimeters - disappeared without a trace.
“The loss of the Gioconda is a national disaster,” wrote the French magazine “Illustration”, “since it is almost certain that the one who committed this abduction cannot profit from it. One must fear that he, in fear of being caught, may destroy this fragile work.
The magazine announced a reward: “40,000 francs to the one who brings the Gioconda to the editorial office of the magazine. 20,000 francs to whoever points out where the painting can be found. 45,000 to those who return the Mona Lisa by September 1." The first of September passed, but there was no picture. Then Illustrasion published a new proposal: “The editors guarantee complete secrecy to those who bring the Mona Lisa. They will give him 45,000 in cash and they won't even ask for his name." But no one came.
Month after month passed. All this time, the portrait of the beautiful Florentine lay hidden in a pile of rubbish on the third floor of the large Parisian house "Cité du Heroes", in which Italian seasonal workers lived.
A few more months passed, a year, two...
One day, the Italian antiquary Alfredo Geri received a letter from Paris. On poor school paper, in clumsy letters, a certain Vincenzo Leopardi offered an antiquary to buy a portrait of Mona Lisa that had disappeared from the Louvre. Leopardi wrote that he wanted to return to his homeland one of the best works of Italian art.
This letter was sent in November 1913.
When, after long negotiations, correspondence and meetings, Leopardi delivered the painting to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, he said:
“This is a good, holy thing! The Louvre is chock-full of treasures that rightfully belong to Italy. I wouldn't be Italian if I looked at it with indifference!"
Fortunately, the two years and three months that the Mona Lisa spent in captivity did not affect the picture. Under the protection of the police, the Gioconda was exhibited in Rome, Florence, Milan, and then, after the farewell ceremony, left for Paris.
The investigation into the case of Perugia (this is the real name of the kidnapper) went on for several months. The arrested man did not hide anything and said that he periodically worked at the Louvre as a glazier. During this time, he studied the halls of the art gallery and met many museum employees. He frankly stated that he had long ago decided to steal the Mona Lisa.
Perugia knew little about the history of painting. He sincerely and naively believed that the Mona Lisa was taken away from Italy during the time of Napoleon.
Meanwhile, Leonardo da Vinci himself brought it to France and sold it to the French king Francis I for 4,000 ecu - a huge amount at that time. For a long time this painting adorned the Golden Cabinet of the royal castle in Fontainebleau, under Louis XIV it was transferred to Versailles, and after the revolution it was transferred to the Louvre.
After a 20-year stay in Milan, Leonardo da Vinci returned to Florence. How everything has changed in his hometown! Those he left behind were already at the height of their fame; and about him, who once enjoyed universal worship, has almost been forgotten. His old friends, captured by a whirlwind of unrest and unrest, have changed a lot ... One of them became a monk; another, in despair at the death of the violent Savonarola, gave up painting and decided to spend the rest of his days in the Santa Maria Novella hospital; the third, aged in spirit and body, could no longer be Leonardo's former comrade.
Only one P. Perugino, already experienced in worldly affairs, talked with Leonardo in the old way and gave him useful advice. His words were true, and Leonardo da Vinci also really needed these tips. In the service of the duke, he did not earn money for a comfortable life and returned to Florence with meager means. Leonardo did not even think about large and serious works, and no one ordered them from him. To write at his own risk for the love of art, he had neither the money nor the time. The entire Florentine nobility strove for mediocre masters, and the brilliant da Vinci was in poverty, content with the crumbs that fell to him from the orders of his happy brothers.
But in Florence, Leonardo da Vinci created his masterpiece of masterpieces - the famous painting "La Gioconda".
The Soviet art critic I. Dolgopolov noted that writing about this painting “is simply scary, because poets, prose writers, and art critics have written more than one hundred books about it. Do not count the publications in which every inch of this picture is studied in the most thorough way. And although the history of its creation is quite well-known, the name of the painting, the date of its writing, and even the city in which the great Leonardo met his model are questioned.”
George Vasari in his "Biographies" reports about this picture: "Leonardo undertook to complete for Francesco del Giocondo a portrait of Mona Lisa, his wife."
As some researchers now suggest, Vasari must have been wrong. The latest research shows that the painting depicts not the wife of the Florentine nobleman del Giocondo, but some other high-ranking lady. M.A. Gukovsky, for example, wrote several decades ago that this portrait conveys the features of one of the many ladies of the heart of Giulio Medici and was commissioned by him. This is unequivocally reported by Antonio de Beatis, who saw the portrait in the workshop of Leonardo in France.
In his diary dated October 10, 1517, he reports: “In one of the suburbs, the cardinal went with us sinners to see Mr. Luonardo Vinci, a Florentine ... an excellent painter of our time. The latter showed his lordship three paintings - one of some Florentine lady, painted from nature, at the request of the late Magnificent Giulio Medici.
Many researchers were amazed why the merchant del Giocondo did not keep a portrait of his wife. Indeed, the portrait became the property of the artist. And this fact is also perceived by some as an argument in favor of the fact that Leonardo did not depict the Mona Lisa. But, perhaps, the Florentine was a little surprised and surprised? Maybe he simply did not recognize his young wife Mona Lisa Gherardini in the depicted goddess? And Leonardo himself, who painted the portrait for four years and invested so much in it, could not part with it and took the picture from Florence?
Be that as it may, in fact, thanks to D. Vasari, this female image entered the history of world culture under the name of "Mona Lisa", or "Gioconda". Was she beautiful? Probably, but there were many women in Florence and more beautiful than her.
However, Mona Lisa was surprisingly attractive, although the features of her face were not harmonious. A small smiling mouth, soft hair flowing over her shoulders...
“But her fully developed figure,” writes M. Alpatov, “was perfect, and her well-groomed hands were especially perfect. But what was remarkable about her, despite her wealth, her eyebrows plucked in fashion, her blush and a lot of jewelry on her arms and neck, was the simplicity and naturalness poured into her whole appearance ...
And then her face lit up with a smile and became unusually attractive for the artist - embarrassed and a little sly, as if the lost playfulness of youth and something hidden in the depths of the soul, unsolved, had returned to him.
Whatever tricks Leonardo resorted to, if only his model did not get bored during the sessions. In a beautifully decorated room, among flowers and luxurious furniture, musicians were placed, delighting the ear with singing and music, and a beautiful, refined artist lay in wait for a wondrous smile on Mona Lisa's face.
He invited jesters and clowns, but the music did not quite satisfy the Mona Lisa. She listened to well-known motives with a bored face, and the magician-juggler did not really revive her. And then Leonardo told her a story.
Once upon a time there was a poor man, and he had four sons; three smart, and one this way and that. - no mind, no stupidity. Yes, however, they could not properly judge his mind: he was more silent and liked to walk in the field, to the sea, listen and think to himself; He also loved to look at the stars at night.
And then death came for the father. Before parting with his life, he called his children to him and said to them:
“My sons, soon I will die. As soon as you bury me, lock up the hut and go to the ends of the world to get your own happiness. Let everyone learn something so that he can feed himself.”
The father died, and the sons, having buried him, went to the ends of the world to seek their happiness and agreed that in three years they would return to the clearing of their native grove, where they went for deadwood, and tell each other who had learned what during these three years.
Three years passed, and, remembering the agreement, the brothers returned from the end of the world to the clearing of their native grove. The first brother came to learn carpentry. Out of boredom, he cut down a tree and hewed it, made a woman out of it. Walk away a bit and wait.
The second brother returned, saw a wooden woman, and since he was a tailor, he decided to dress her and at the same moment, like a skilled craftsman, made her beautiful silk clothes.
The third son came, adorned the wooden girl with gold and precious stones, because he was a jeweler and managed to accumulate great wealth.
And the fourth brother came. He did not know how to carpentry or sewing - he could only listen to what the earth was saying, trees, herbs, animals and birds were saying, he knew the course of the heavenly planets and also knew how to sing wonderful songs. He saw a wooden girl in luxurious clothes, in gold and precious stones. But she was deaf and dumb and did not move. Then he gathered all his art - after all, he learned to talk with everything that is on earth, he learned to revive stones with his song ... And he sang a beautiful song, from which the brothers hiding behind the bushes cried, and with this song he breathed soul into a wooden woman . And she smiled and sighed...
Then the brothers rushed to her and shouted:
- I created you, you must be my wife!
- You should be my wife, I dressed you, naked and unhappy!
- And I made you rich, you should be my wife!
But the girl answered:
- You created me - be my father. You dressed me, and you decorated me - be my brothers. And you, who breathed my soul into me and taught me to enjoy life, you alone will be my husband for life ...
And the trees, and the flowers, and the whole earth, together with the birds, sang to them the hymn of love...
After finishing the story, Leonardo looked at the Mona Lisa. God, what happened to her face! It seemed to be lit up with light, its eyes shone. The smile of bliss, slowly disappearing from her face, remained in the corners of her mouth and trembled, giving it an amazing, mysterious and slightly sly expression.
For a long time Leonardo da Vinci did not experience such a huge surge of creative forces. Everything that was in him most cheerful, bright and clear, he put into his work.
To enhance the impression of the face, Leonardo dressed the Mona Lisa in a simple, unadorned dress, modest and dark. The impression of simplicity and naturalness is enhanced by the skillfully painted folds of the dress and light scarf.
Artists and art lovers who sometimes visited Leonardo saw the Mona Lisa and were delighted:
- What magical skill Messer Leonardo possesses, depicting this lively brilliance, this wetness of the eyes!
She's definitely breathing!
She's laughing now!
- After all, you can almost feel the living skin of this lovely face ... It seems that in the deepening of the neck you can see the beating of the pulse.
What a weird smile she has. It's as if she's thinking about something and doesn't finish it...
Indeed, in the eyes of the "La Gioconda" there is light and a wet sheen, as in living eyes, and the thinnest lilac veins are visible in the eyelids. but the great artist did something unprecedented: he also painted the air, permeated with moist vapors and enveloping the figure with a transparent haze.
The most famous, many times studied and described in all languages of the world, "La Gioconda" is still the most mysterious painting of the great da Vinci. It still remains incomprehensible and continues to disturb the imagination for several centuries, perhaps precisely because it is not a portrait in the usual sense of the word. Leonardo da Vinci painted it contrary to the very concept of "portrait", which implies the image of a real person, similar to the original and with the attributes that characterize him (at least indirectly).
What the artist wrote goes far beyond the scope of a simple portrait. Every shade of the skin, every fold of clothing, the warm sparkle of the eyes, the life of the arteries and veins - the artist supplied his picture with all this. But before the viewer in the background there is also a steep chain of rocks with ice peaks at the foot of the mountains, a water surface with a wide and winding river flowing out of it, which, narrowing under a small bridge, turns into a miniature waterfall that disappears outside the picture.
The golden warm light of the Italian evening and the magical charm of Leonardo da Vinci's painting pour on the viewer. Intently, understanding everything, looks at the world and the people of the Gioconda. More than one century has passed since the artist created it, and with the last touch of Leonardo's brush, it became eternally alive. He himself had long felt that Mona Lisa lives against his will.
As art critic V. Lipatov writes:
"La Gioconda" was copied many times and always unsuccessfully: it was elusive, it did not even appear on someone else's canvas, it remained true to its creator.
They tried to tear it apart, to select and repeat at least an eternal smile, but in the pictures of students and followers, the smile faded, became false, died, like a creature imprisoned in captivity.
Indeed, not a single reproduction will convey even a thousandth of the charm that flows from the portrait.
The Spanish philosopher Ortega y Gasset wrote that in La Gioconda there is a desire for inner liberation:
“Look at how tense her temples and smoothly shaved eyebrows are, how tightly her lips are compressed, with what hidden effort she tries to lift the heavy load of melancholic sadness. However, this tension is so imperceptible, her whole figure breathes with such graceful calmness, and her whole being is full of such immobility, that this inner effort is more likely to be guessed by the viewer than consciously expressed by the master. It wriggles, bites its tail like a snake, and, closing the movement in a circle, finally giving vent to despair, manifests itself in the famous Mona Lisa smile.
The unique "La Gioconda" by Leonardo da Vinci was ahead of the development of painting for many centuries to come. The most incredible assumptions were made (that the Gioconda is pregnant, that she is oblique, that this is a man in disguise, that this is a self-portrait of the artist himself), but it is unlikely that it will ever be possible to fully explain why this work, created by Leonardo in his declining years, has such amazing and attractive power For this canvas is a creation of a truly divine, and not a human hand.
"One Hundred Great Paintings" by N.A. Ionina, publishing house "Veche", 2002
The Mona Lisa painting has always been an amazing creation of Leonardo da Vinci. There are many very interesting stories connected with this work. In this article, we will tell you some informative facts about the Mona Lisa painting.
Mona Lisa painting. Facts that will impress you:
Eyebrows and eyelashes Mona Lisa
In the painting, the Mona Lisa has neither eyelashes nor eyebrows. However, in 2007, a French engineer using a high-resolution camera found thin brush strokes in the area of the eyebrows and eyelashes, which disappeared over time, probably as a result of careless restoration or simply faded.
There is another "Mona Lisa"
The Prado Museum in Spain houses the second Mona Lisa, which was probably painted by one of da Vinci's students. If two Mona Lisa paintings are superimposed, then a 3-D effect appears, which, in fact, makes this painting the first stereoscopic image in history.
Pablo Picasso was suspected..
When the Mona Lisa was stolen in 1911, Pablo Picasso was interrogated as a suspect.
Fine work..
Drawing the image of the Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci created about 30 layers, many of which are thinner than a human hair.
Relaxed atmosphere
Drawing "Mona Lisa", the artist made sure that the model was in a good mood, and that she was not bored. To this end, six musicians were invited to play specially for the Mona Lisa, and a musical fountain was installed, invented by da Vinci himself.
Various magnificent works were also read aloud and a Persian cat and a greyhound were present, in case the model wanted to play with them.
The picture was not painted on canvas
The Mona Lisa is not painted on canvas, but on three kinds of wood, about an inch and a half thick.
Long 12 years..
Leonardo da Vinci invented scissors, played the viola, and spent 12 years painting Mona Lisa's lips.
Mona Lisa and Napoleon
The Mona Lisa hung in Napoleon's bedroom.
An attempt at cubism
The Swedish designer created a replica of the Mona Lisa from fifty translucent polygons.
Scam of the century..
As you know, in 1911 the painting "Mona Lisa" was stolen from the Louvre. The kidnapping was led by Argentine con man Eduardo de Valfierno, all in the name of selling six fakes to six different collectors around the world. No charges were brought against him, since he was not formally involved in the kidnapping.
I just took it out of the museum..
In 1911, Vincenzo Peruggia (Louvre employee and mirror maker) wished to return the Mona Lisa back to Italy: after the painting "had been seized by Napoleon". Perugia entered the Louvre, removed the painting from the wall, took it to the nearest service staircase, took the canvas out of the frame, put it under a dressing gown and left the museum as if nothing had happened.
Insolent..
In 1956, a Bolivian tourist threw a rock at the Mona Lisa and damaged the painting.
What is the price of the Mona Lisa?
The cost of the painting "Mona Lisa" is estimated at approximately 782 million dollars.
Mona Lisa from toast..
In 1983, Tadahiko Ogawa created a copy of the "Mona Lisa" consisting entirely of t O st.
Saved from the Nazis
During World War II, the Mona Lisa was transported from the Louvre twice. And all so that it does not fall into the hands of the Nazis.
Mona Lisa with mustache
The Mona Lisa with a Mustache is a work by surrealist artist Marcel Duchamp. He called the picture "L.H.O.O.Q." , which means "I have a hot ass" in French.
Mona Lisa painting with mustache
You can love forever..
In 1963, the Mona Lisa was exhibited for a month at the National Gallery of Art. The painting was guarded around the clock by the US Marines and, despite the fact that the time for visiting the gallery was extended, people often stood in line for about two hours in order to get a glimpse of the painting.
The smallest replica of the Mona Lisa
The size of the most microscopic copy of the Mona Lisa is only 30 microns.
self-portrait
There is a version that the portrait of Mona Lisa is actually a self-portrait of da Vinci in women's clothing.
