Image · Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Mona Lisa
Leonardo da Vinci · c. 1503–1519
About this masterpiece
The Mona Lisa is a half-length portrait of an Italian noblewoman, Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Florentine silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo. Painted in oil on a poplar panel, the work is renowned for the subject’s enigmatic expression, the monumentality of the composition, and the subtle modeling of forms via the sfumato technique that Leonardo perfected. The atmospheric, dreamlike landscape behind her further heightens the otherworldly quality of the figure.
Historical significance
Acquired by King Francis I around 1518, the Mona Lisa has been in the French royal collection for over five centuries. Its theft in 1911 by Vincenzo Peruggia transformed it into a global icon. Today, it is the most visited, most written about, and most parodied work of art in the world, attracting roughly six million viewers each year to its dedicated wall in the Salle des États.
