Why is Leonardo Da Vinci's Painting the Mona Lisa so Famous

Why is Leonardo Da Vinci's Painting the Mona Lisa so Famous

Painted by Leonardo Da Vinci- the steller artist from the times of Renaissance, the Mona Lisa is a great painting, and depicts Lisa Gherardini standing in a scenic background. She was the wife of Franceso del Giocondo, part of the Gherardini family in Florence. After the French Revolution, Napoleon kept the painting in his bedroom. Afterward, it found a permanent and public place in the new Louvre Museum.

Before 1911, the painting was famous like many other masterpieces, though it was much less well-known. However, the event that elevated Mona Lisa into a rock star status involved two historic figures: Pablo Picasso (painter) and Apollinaire (poet, leader of Picasso's group). Thanks to Picasso, he unwittingly fueled the Mona Lisa's legend. As a prank, the pair of artists stolen the painting and several other works from the Louvre museum in 1911. 

The theft went unnoticed for 26 hours. At the time, the Louvre was the largest building in the world and employed only 150 guards to watch over 1,000 rooms containing 250,000 art objects. This meant that thefts and defilements were a regular occurrence.

Then the hunt was on. The media got involved and wildfire spread. Rumors were circulated that the police would soon search Picasso's apartment. In the panic, Apollinaire and Picasso tried to return the missing artworks. They took a long walk to the Louvre museum. Their attempt failed. In their defeat, they headed home. The next morning, Picasso brought the evidence to the Paris-Journal. As a result, Apollinaire was arrested and jailed. In the end, both men were brought to trial. Apollinaire confessed everything, whereas Picasso lied like a weasel and denied he ever knew Apollinaire. 

While the incident ended rather tragic for Apollinaire and Picasso. Their friendship ended. However, it was a win-win situation for the Louvre. Their famous painting got headlines all around the world for weeks. From there, the legend grew...and grew. Then Nat King Cole recorded the song in honor of Mona Lisa.

On the first two days of its restoration, over 100,000 people came to see it. Today, over 8 million people a year crowd around this small portrait, and wonder why it is so famous…

Update: On July 30, 2011, NPR did a story on Mona Lisa. It confirms the theft theory. Apollinaire and Picasso did buy stolen paintings. However, the thieves that stolen the Mona Lisa were Vincenzo, Michele Lancelotti, and Vincenzo Perugia, the Italian group. But it was the theft angle that made the Mona Lisa infamous. 

Source: Quora

Leonardo da Vinci made heavy use of an almost forgotten painting technique which is called sfumato (it's Italian for smoke, by the way). It's a very tedious process where the paint/pigment is applied in thin layers, this is also the reason why it took him so long to paint it. He drew one layer, waited for the paint to dry and then drew over it (a couple of hundred times). It's a techniques that only very few people have mastered and it's not really used anymore.

Another thing that makes the Mona Lisa so special is the fact that her eyes were drawn in a very specific way: they literally follow you when you move around. This is another optical illusion that is achieved by a special painting technique, we commonly refer to it as the "Silberblick" in Germany. Da Vinci painted Mona Lisa in such a way that the eyes are the center of the viewer’s attention and the mouth is the periphery. When the viewer looks at the eyes, the mouth falls under the viewer’s peripheral vision and therefore the features of the mouth are not clear, this along with a little shading at the cheek bones make the mouth look like a smile. But once the viewer focuses on the mouth (smile), the smile slowly disappers, as it was not meant to be a smile. That’s the magic of Leonardo’s skill and that’s what made the Mona Lisa unique compared to other grand paintings.

Some historians also believe the Mona Lisa could be a self portrait. Da Vinci painting himself as a woman. Digital analysis has revealed that Da Vinci’s facial characteristics and those of the woman in the painting are almost perfectly aligned with one another. That was enough to convince at least one researcher that the image is actually Da Vinci in drag.

Recently, it was discovered that Da Vinci painted and repainted the Mona Lisa several times before he got it right. This points back to the theory of sacred geometry being the focus, for he might be trying to get the proportions right. You can watch this YouTube video, which explains the use of sacred geometry on the Mona Lisa really well.

Most people don't even know is the fact that there are actually two Mona Lisa's. It is true. After many peer-reviewed studies and tests it was finally concluded that this painting. It was also drawn by none other than Leonardo da Vinci, the master himself.