What Made The Mona Lisa So Famous ?
How is it that a small, at first look unremarkable painting became the world’s most famous artwork and number one museum exhibit of all?
I have had the good fortune to visit the Louvre museum in Paris twice. Broadly the visitors can be classified as those who come to the museum and those who come to see the Mona Lisa.
How is it that a small, at first look unremarkable painting became the world’s most famous artwork and number one museum exhibit of all?
It is the best-known single artwork in history. Open up any book on art and you’ll find opinions on its uniqueness from the unknown person whose portrait it is, her enigmatic smile, the unique perspective da Vinci employed and its sublime composition.
But the truth is that up until a century ago, the Mona Lisa was just one of many paintings at the Louvre. The Louvre acquired the painting in 1804 but became a household name only after it was stolen in broad daylight in 1911.
Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian carpenter who was working at the Louvre, decided to steal it by tucking it under his jacket and walking out of the museum one August day.
Spurred by the ensuing media frenzy, museum goers went to see the empty space where she had hung at the Louvre. Postcards were printed, Mona Lisa dolls were made and marketed. Even bigger crowds came to see her when she was recovered two years later, with more than 100,000 people viewing her at the Louvre in the first two days alone.
The worldwide mystery of its disappearance played out in major cities, like New York, Paris, and Rome. At one time the great Picasso was wrongfully accused and arrested as an accomplice in the crime.
The drama that surrounded the Mona Lisa's two-year disappearance is what made the painting so renowned. It is the media interest in her disappearance that provoked the critical analysis after her reappearance and drive it up to match the recent fame it had acquired ‘in absentia’
This is one cruel reality of art appreciation. The context matters as much as the content.
Learn more about the magical world of art and culture and visit your nearest museum.
