Mona Lisa
Mona Lisa — Leonardo da Vinci, c.1503-1519
Leonardo da Vinci, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The Mona Lisa is the most famous painting in the world — and the most written about, the most reproduced, the most stolen (once, in 1911, by Vincenzo Peruggia), and perhaps the most misunderstood. It is a portrait of a Florentine woman, almost certainly Lisa del Giocondo (née Gherardini), wife of the silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo, commissioned around 1503. What makes it extraordinary is not its fame (which is largely accidental — inflated by the 1911 theft) but its technique: the sfumato (the smoky modelling of tones without visible brushstrokes), the atmospheric landscape behind the figure (a fantasy world of water, roads, and mountains), the psychological complexity of the expression (the slight smile that seems to shift in peripheral vision), and the absolute mastery of portraiture that has never been surpassed.
Leonardo began the Mona Lisa around 1503 in Florence and was apparently still adding to it when he died in France in 1519 — it was found among his possessions at Amboise. He sold it to Francis I of France; it has been in French possession ever since.
Giorgio Vasari's 1550 description emphasises the sfumato quality: 'The eyes had that lustre and moisture seen in life.' Leonardo's innovations in this portrait — the three-quarter pose (still novel in Italian portraiture), the landscape background, the psychological interiority of the expression — defined the European portrait tradition for the next four centuries. The painting's current condition is dimmed by old varnish, which gives it a yellow-brown quality that the original, in brighter condition, apparently did not have.
In the Louvre, the Mona Lisa is displayed behind bulletproof glass in its own room (Salle des États), surrounded by crowds that make close inspection difficult. The best strategy is to arrive early (the room opens with the museum) and stand to one side, where the crowds are thinner.
Notice the landscape: the left side of the background is at a different horizon level than the right — a deliberate disorientation that has been interpreted as dream-logic or as a compositional device to unsettle the viewer. The veil that Lisa wears over her hair was the conventional sign of a married woman; the view some scholars have of her as a symbolic figure (the soul, beauty personified) has largely given way to the documentary identification with Lisa del Giocondo.
When standing before this work, look carefully: Mona Lisa — Leonardo da Vinci, c.1503-1519. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
When standing before this work, look carefully: Detail — the enigmatic smile. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
When standing before this work, look carefully: The fantasy landscape behind the figure. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
When standing before this work, look carefully: The Salle des États — the Mona Lisa in the Louvre. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
Louvre Museum, Salle des États (Room 711), first floor. The most visited room in the most visited museum in the world; queue times are long. The Louvre is open every day except Tuesday; tickets must be booked online in advance.