The Mona Lisa is the most well known piece of Art in the world. Many people that have had the chance to see it in person find themselves wondering what all the fuss is about. Usually when I ask what they thought their reply goes something like “It was a lot smaller than I thought…” followed by various grumblings about the cost of the Louvre, the many many tourists blocking their view and their opinion that her smile isn’t really that mysterious at all.
So let’s start with the basic stats. The Mona Lisa is 30.25 inches tall and 21 inches wide. It’s painted with oil paint on a wood panel (poplar, if that kind of thing interests you). It was painted sometime between 1503 and 1506. In other words, IT’S REALLY OLD. It is on display at the Louvre in Paris in a humidity controlled case to prevent warping and behind bullet proof glass, National Treasure style.
But wait, there’s more! Part of the reason this painting is so famous (despite it’s small size) is because it was painted by Leonardo da Vinci. Even during his lifetime da Vinci was a famous artist and these days you’d be hard pressed to find someone that hasn’t heard of him. (Thank you Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.) Not only that, but this painting was basically the first of its kind a lot of ways. It’s a portrait that shows more than half of her body, not just her head and shoulders. The background was not set in a studio, but instead is made up of a wild and hazy imaginary landscape. Da Vinci also developed something new in this painting which is called sfumato. This is a fancy Italian word arty people use to say it makes things blend, making her face look more realistic and the background look kinda far away. As far as innovation, this small portrait was kind of a big deal.
But much more mysterious and interesting than all of that is not knowing who in the world she actually was. The most common belief is that she was Lisa Gherardini (some rich merchant’s wife), but there is no definitive proof. The painting itself doesn’t give many clues either. She’s not wearing any jewelry or holding anything that might indicate her social status. What’s more, whoever commissioned this painting never got it. Da Vinci kept it himself until he died.
Those are some things that made it well known, but what could have made it FAMOUS? The answer is simple. Scandal. In 1911 the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre. The museum shut down for an entire week in an attempt to investigate, plastering pictures of the painting all over Paris. Having no luck, the museum reopened only to find that scads of people were lining up to see the empty space on the wall. Two years later, the painting turned back up when the thief, a former museum employee (who had simply walked out with the Mona Lisa under his coat after closing time) tried to sell the painting to a gallery in Italy. By that point, the Mona Lisa had become an icon, the veritable poster child for Art itself. Other artists like Dali and Warhol have even used the image over and over for their own purposes.
So the moral of this story is, if you’re an artist and you want to get famous… like REALLY famous… get yourself a show and then get some disgruntled employee to steal your work for a year or two. Hopefully by the time it turns back up, people will be so familiar with it that the rest will just fall into place.
“Mona Lisa, by Leonardo da Vinci, from C2RMF retouched” by Leonardo da Vinci. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mona_Lisa,_by_Leonardo_da_Vinci,_from_C2RMF_retouched.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Mona_Lisa,_by_Leonardo_da_Vinci,_from_C2RMF_retouched.jpg
Art For The Everyman 
