The Mona Lisa is a portrait painting created by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. It is a famous example of a masterpiece from the Italian Renaissance. People often say it is the most well-known, most visited, most written about, most sung about, and most copied artwork in the world. The painting is special because of the subject’s mysterious smile, the large and important composition, the careful way shapes are shown, and how it creates a sense of depth and space.
The painting is traditionally believed to show Lisa del Giocondo, an Italian noblewoman. It was painted with oil on a wooden panel made from a type of poplar tree. Leonardo da Vinci did not give the painting to the Giocondo family. Some believe it was painted between 1503 and 1506, but Leonardo may have worked on it as late as 1517. After Leonardo died in 1519, King Francis I of France owned the painting. It later became the property of the French Republic and has been displayed at the Louvre in Paris since 1797.
The painting became very famous worldwide after it was stolen in 1911 by Vincenzo Peruggia. He said he was acting out of love for Italy, believing it should belong to his country. The theft and its recovery in 1914 received a lot of attention and media coverage. This led to many cultural works, such as the 1915 opera Mona Lisa, two films from the 1930s (The Theft of the Mona Lisa and Arsène Lupin), and the song “Mona Lisa” recorded by Nat King Cole, which was one of the most popular songs of the 1950s.
The Mona Lisa is one of the most valuable paintings in the world. It holds the Guinness World Record for the highest known painting insurance valuation in history, which was $100 million in 1962. This amount is worth about $1 billion today.
Title and subject
The painting known in English as the Mona Lisa is named based on the belief that it shows Lisa del Giocondo. However, it is not certain if the painting truly shows her. In 1550, Renaissance art historian Giorgio Vasari wrote that Leonardo da Vinci painted the portrait of "Mona Lisa," the wife of Francesco del Giocondo. In Italian, "monna" is a polite way to address a woman, similar to "Madam" or "my lady" in English. Over time, this became "madonna" and later "monna." The painting's Italian title is Monna Lisa ("monna" is considered informal in Italian), but in English, it is traditionally spelled Mona Lisa.
Lisa del Giocondo was part of the Gherardini family from Florence and Tuscany. She was married to Francesco del Giocondo, a wealthy silk merchant in Florence. The painting is believed to have been created for their new home and to celebrate the birth of their second son, Andrea. In Italian, the painting is called La Gioconda, which means "jocund" or "happy." This name is a play on the family name "Giocondo." In French, the title is La Joconde, which has the same meaning. Vasari's description of the Mona Lisa comes from his 1550 biography of Leonardo, written 31 years after the artist's death. This account has long been the most well-known source about the painting's history and the identity of the person in the portrait.
Leonardo's assistant, Salaì, owned a painting called La Gioconda at his death in 1524. This painting was given to him by Leonardo. In 2005, a scholar at Heidelberg University found a note in a 1477 book by the Roman philosopher Cicero. The note, written by Leonardo's contemporary Agostino Vespucci and dated October 1503, stated that Leonardo was working on a painting of Lisa del Giocondo at that time. The note compared Leonardo to the famous Greek painter Apelles. After the discovery, Vincent Delieuvin, a representative of the Louvre, said, "Leonardo da Vinci was painting, in 1503, the portrait of a Florentine lady named Lisa del Giocondo. About this we are now certain. Unfortunately, we cannot be absolutely certain that this portrait of Lisa del Giocondo is the painting of the Louvre."
The 2019 book Leonardo da Vinci: The Complete Paintings suggests the painting likely shows Lisa del Giocondo. Isabella d'Este is the only other person considered a possible subject. Some scholars have proposed other theories, claiming Lisa del Giocondo may have been the subject of a different painting. Vasari also mentioned at least four other paintings he called the Mona Lisa. Other people have been suggested as the painting's subject, including Isabella of Aragon, Cecilia Gallerani, Costanza d'Avalos, Duchess of Francavilla, Pacifica Brandano/Brandino, Isabella Gualanda, Caterina Sforza, Bianca Giovanna Sforza, Salaì, and even Leonardo himself. Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud suggested that Leonardo gave the Mona Lisa a smile that showed approval, similar to the smile his mother, Caterina, gave in other works like The Baptism of Christ, Virgin of the Rocks, and The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne.
Description
The Mona Lisa looks similar to many Renaissance paintings of the Virgin Mary, who was considered a model of ideal womanhood during that time. The woman in the painting sits upright in a special chair called a pozzetto, with her arms folded, showing a calm and reserved posture. Her eyes are directed toward the viewer. She appears unusually lifelike, which Leonardo achieved by avoiding clear outlines. Instead, he used a technique called soft blending (sfumato) to create a mysterious mood, especially in her mouth corners and eye corners.
The way the woman is shown in a three-quarter profile—partially turned to the side—resembles works from the late 1400s by artists like Lorenzo di Credi and Agnolo di Domenico del Mazziere. Frank Zöllner noted that her posture and the vertical columns on either side of the painting were inspired by Flemish art. Woods-Marsden pointed out that similar features appear in the work of Hans Memling, such as his portrait of Benedetto Portinari (1487), and in Italian paintings like those by Sebastiano Mainardi, which use a loggia (a type of open structure) to connect the subject to the background landscape. This feature is not present in Leonardo’s earlier painting of Ginevra de’ Benci.
The Mona Lisa is one of the first Italian portraits to show the subject in front of an imaginary landscape. Some scholars believe the background is realistic. Leonardo was among the first artists to use aerial perspective, making distant parts of the scene appear hazy. The woman sits in what looks like an open loggia with dark pillar bases on either side. Behind her, a vast landscape stretches to icy mountains, winding paths, and a distant bridge, showing only faint signs of people. Leonardo placed the horizon line at the level of her eyes, not at her neck as in his earlier work, linking her to the landscape and adding to the painting’s mystery. The bridge in the background was identified by Silvano Vincenti as the Romito di Laterina bridge near Arezzo, Italy. Other bridges with similar arches were suggested as possible inspirations, though some had more arches. Some people also see similarities to the Azzone Visconti Bridge.
The Mona Lisa does not clearly show eyebrows or eyelashes, even though Vasari described the eyebrows in detail. In 2007, French engineer Pascal Cotte used high-resolution scans to find evidence that the painting originally had eyelashes and eyebrows, which may have faded over time due to cleaning. Cotte also discovered that the painting was altered multiple times, with changes to the face’s size and the direction of the subject’s gaze. In one layer, the woman was shown wearing hairpins and a pearl-adorned headdress, which was later removed and repainted.
There is much debate about the identity of the woman and the landscape. Leonardo likely painted her accurately, even though her beauty is not considered exceptional by standards from the 15th century or today. Some Eastern art historians, like Yukio Yashiro, suggest the background landscape was influenced by Chinese art, but this idea lacks clear proof.
In 2003, Harvard University professor Margaret Livingstone found that the Mona Lisa’s smile becomes less visible when viewed directly, due to how the human eye processes shadows. Peripheral vision, which detects shadows better, can see the smile more clearly. In 2008, research by a geomorphology professor and an artist-photographer found that the landscape resembles views in the Montefeltro region of Italy. In 2023/2024, geologist and art historian Ann Pizzorusso suggested the landscape includes recognizable features of Lecco, near Lake Como in northern Italy.
History
Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is the only portrait of his that has never been questioned about being real. It is one of four works—Saint Jerome in the Wilderness, Adoration of the Magi, and The Last Supper—whose artist has never been disputed. Leonardo began painting Lisa del Giocondo, the woman in the Mona Lisa, by October 1503. Some believe the painting started in 1503 or 1504 in Florence. The Louvre says it was likely painted between 1503 and 1506, but art historian Martin Kemp says the exact dates are hard to confirm. Another expert, Alessandro Vezzosi, thinks the painting shows Leonardo’s style from the final years of his life, after 1513. Some experts argue that historical records suggest Leonardo painted it from 1513. According to Vasari, Leonardo worked on the painting for four years and left it unfinished. In 1516, Leonardo moved to France at King Francis I’s request, and it is believed he took the Mona Lisa with him and continued working on it. Art historian Carmen C. Bambach believes Leonardo may have refined the painting until 1516 or 1517. Leonardo’s right hand became paralyzed around 1517, which might explain why the painting was left unfinished.
Around 1505, Raphael made a sketch of the Mona Lisa, showing columns on either side of the subject. Experts agree this sketch was based on Leonardo’s painting. Later copies of the Mona Lisa, such as those in the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design and The Walters Art Museum, also show large columns. This led some to think the original painting had been trimmed. However, in 1993, Frank Zöllner found that the painting had never been trimmed, confirmed by tests in 2004. Vincent Delieuvin, a Louvre curator, says the sketch and other copies must have been inspired by a different version of the painting, while Zöllner suggests the sketch might be based on another Leonardo portrait of the same subject.
A record from October 1517 mentions that the Mona Lisa was painted for the deceased Giuliano de’ Medici, Leonardo’s steward. However, this is likely an error. Vasari says the painting was created for the subject’s husband, Francesco del Giocondo. Some experts think Leonardo made two versions of the painting because of uncertainty about its dating, commissioner, and what happened to it after Leonardo’s death in 1519. The first version, with visible columns, might have been painted around 1503 for Giocondo and left unfinished in the possession of Leonardo’s pupil, Salaì, until his death in 1524. The second version, painted around 1513 for Giuliano de’ Medici, might have been sold to King Francis I in 1518 and is the one in the Louvre today. Others believe there was only one true Mona Lisa but disagree about its later history. A varnish was added to the painting sometime in the 16th century. It was kept at the Palace of Fontainebleau until Louis XIV moved it to the Palace of Versailles, where it stayed until the French Revolution. In 1797, it was displayed permanently at the Louvre.
After the French Revolution, the painting was moved to the Louvre but briefly stayed in Napoleon’s bedroom at the Tuileries Palace. Though it was not widely known outside the art world, some French intellectuals in the 1860s began praising it as a masterpiece of Renaissance art. During the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871), the painting was moved to the Brest Arsenal for safety.
In 1911, the painting was still not well-known to the general public. On August 21, 1911, the painting was stolen from the Louvre. Painter Louis Béroud reported it missing the next day. Confusion arose about whether the painting was being photographed, and the Louvre closed for a week to investigate. French poet Guillaume Apollinaire was suspected and arrested, and he accused his friend Pablo Picasso, who was questioned but later cleared. The real thief was Vincenzo Peruggia, a Louvre employee who had helped build the painting’s glass case. He stole it by hiding in a broom closet during the day and taking it under his coat after the museum closed.
Peruggia, an Italian patriot, believed the painting should be returned to an Italian museum. He may have been influenced by an associate who planned to sell copies of the painting after the theft. After keeping the Mona Lisa in his apartment for two years, Peruggia tried to sell it to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. It was displayed there for over two weeks before being returned to the Louvre on January 4, 1914. Peruggia was imprisoned for six months and praised in Italy for his patriotism. A year after the theft, a journalist named Karl Decker claimed to meet an alleged accomplice, Eduardo de Valfierno, who said he had planned the theft. A forger named Yves Chaudron was supposed to make six copies of the painting to sell in the U.S. while hiding the original. Decker wrote about this in 1932.
On August 28, 1939, just before World War II began, the painting was moved from the Louvre to the Château d’Amboise, then to the Loc-Dieu Abbey, Château de Chambord, and finally to the Musée Ingres in Montauban. This helped it avoid being stolen by Nazi Germany during the war. Since the 1990s, the painting has been temporarily moved three times for Louvre renovations: between 1992 and 1995, from 2001 to 2005, and again in 2019.
On December 30, 1956, Bolivian man Ugo Ungaza Villegas threw a rock at the Mona Lisa while it was on display at the Louvre. The glass case broke, and a small piece of paint near the painting’s left elbow was damaged. The painting was protected by glass after a man had tried to cut it with a razor blade years earlier. After this attack, Salvador Dalí wrote an essay in 1963 titled “Why they attack the Mona Lisa,” referencing earlier ideas by Freud.
Since 1956, bulletproof glass has been used to protect the painting
Conservation
The Mona Lisa has existed for more than 500 years. In 1952, a group of experts met and said the painting is in excellent condition. It has never been completely restored, so its current state is partly because of many conservation efforts over time. A study in 1933 by Madame de Gironde found that earlier restorers worked carefully. However, varnish applied to the painting darkened by the late 1500s. A strong cleaning in 1809 removed some of the top paint layer, making the figure’s face look faded. Despite these treatments, the painting has been well cared for. Although the wooden panel warped slightly, causing some concern, a 2004–05 team believed the painting would remain safe in the future.
At some point, the Mona Lisa was removed from its original frame. The poplar wood panel warped as humidity changed, causing a crack near the top of the painting. Between the mid-1700s and early 1800s, two walnut braces shaped like butterflies were added to the back of the panel to fix the crack. This repair was done skillfully and worked well. Later, between 1888 and 1905, or during the painting’s theft, one of the braces fell out. A restorer later glued the crack and added cloth to cover the hole. Today, the painting is kept in a climate-controlled, bulletproof glass case. Humidity is kept at 50% with a 10% range, and temperature stays between 18°C (64°F) and 21°C (70°F). Silica gel in the case helps manage humidity changes.
The Mona Lisa’s poplar panel expands and contracts with humidity, causing some warping. To fix warping during World War II and prepare for an exhibit honoring Leonardo’s 500th birthday, the painting was given a flexible oak frame with beech crosspieces in 1951. This frame applies pressure to prevent further warping. In 1970, the beechwood was replaced with maple after insect infestation was found. In 2004–05, the maple crosspieces were changed to sycamore, and a metal crosspiece was added to measure the panel’s warp. The painting has had many frames over time. In 1909, Comtesse de Béhague gave it a Renaissance-style frame matching its historical period. The painting’s edges were trimmed at least once to fit different frames, but no original paint was removed.
The first major cleaning and restoration of the Mona Lisa happened in 1809 by Jean-Marie Hooghstoel, who worked on paintings for the Musée Napoléon. He cleaned the painting with spirits, added color, and reapplied varnish. In 1906, Louvre restorer Eugène Denizard used watercolor to fix areas damaged by a crack and covered parts of the painting with varnish to hide areas covered by an older frame. In 1913, after the painting was recovered from its theft, Denizard cleaned it without solvents and lightly touched up scratches. In 1952, the varnish layer on the background was evened out. After an attack in 1956, restorer Jean-Gabriel Goulinat used watercolor to fix damage to the figure’s left elbow. In 1977, an insect infestation near the crosspieces was treated with carbon tetrachloride and later with ethylene oxide. In 1985, the area was again treated with carbon tetrachloride as a precaution.
On April 6, 2005, after maintenance, analysis, and recording, the painting was moved to a new location in the museum’s Salle des États. It is now displayed in a climate-controlled, bulletproof glass case. Since 2005, the painting has been lit by an LED lamp. A new 20-watt LED lamp, designed specifically for the Mona Lisa, was added in 2013. This lamp has a high color rendering index (up to 98) and reduces harmful infrared and ultraviolet light. The gallery renovation was funded by Nippon Television. As of 2019, about 10.2 million people see the painting at the Louvre each year. A new queuing system introduced in 2019 reduced waiting times, allowing visitors about 30 seconds to view the painting.
On the 500th anniversary of Leonardo’s death, the Louvre held the largest single exhibit of his works from October 2019 to February 2020. The Mona Lisa was not included because it is so popular, so it remained in its gallery. In 2024, plans were made to move the painting to a separate room. This will require major construction, including a new entrance and two basement rooms under the museum’s courtyard. The changes will allow visitors to reach the painting directly, reducing queues at the Louvre.
Legacy
The Mona Lisa influenced Florentine artists even before it was finished. Raphael, who visited Leonardo's workshop multiple times, used elements from the painting in his works, such as Young Woman with Unicorn (c. 1506) and Portrait of Maddalena Doni (c. 1506). Later, Raphael’s paintings like La velata (1515–16) and Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione (c. 1514–15) also showed Leonardo’s influence. Zollner wrote that the Mona Lisa had more impact on Renaissance portraiture than any other work by Leonardo. It became the standard example of a Renaissance portrait and was seen not only as a likeness of a real person but also as a symbol of an ideal.
Earlier critics, like Vasari in the 16th century and André Félibien in the 17th century, praised the painting for its realism. By the mid-19th century, writers began to see the Mona Lisa as mysterious and romantic. In 1859, Théophile Gautier described it as a "sphinx of beauty who smiles mysteriously" and said it evoked "vague, infinite, inexpressible" feelings. In 1869, Walter Pater wrote that the subject seemed "older than the rocks among which she sits" and had "learned the secrets of the grave."
By the early 20th century, some critics felt the painting had become a place for personal interpretations and theories. When the Mona Lisa was stolen in 1911, Renaissance historian Bernard Berenson said it had "simply become an incubus" and was glad to see it removed. In 1911, Jean Metzinger’s painting Le goûter (Tea Time) was called "la Joconde à la cuiller" (Mona Lisa with a spoon) by critic Louis Vauxcelles. Later, André Salmon referred to the painting as "The Mona Lisa of Cubism."
The avant-garde art world recognized the Mona Lisa’s popularity. Because of its fame, Dadaists and Surrealists created modified versions and parodies. In 1883, Le rire (The Laugh), a drawing of the Mona Lisa smoking a pipe by Eugène Bataille, was shown in Paris. In 1919, Marcel Duchamp made L.H.O.O.Q., a parody of the Mona Lisa with a mustache and goatee. The inscription on the painting, when read aloud in French, sounds like "Elle a chaud au cul," which means "she has a hot ass." According to Rhonda R. Shearer, the painting used in Duchamp’s work was partly based on his own face.
Salvador Dalí painted Self-Portrait as Mona Lisa in 1954. Andy Warhol created serigraph prints of the Mona Lisa titled Thirty Are Better than One after the painting visited the United States in 1963. The French artist Invader used a mosaic style to create versions of the Mona Lisa on city walls in Paris and Tokyo. A 2014 New Yorker cartoon parodied the Mona Lisa’s smile with increasingly exaggerated expressions.
In the 21st century, the Mona Lisa is considered the most famous painting in the world. Until the 20th century, it was one of many respected artworks. It once belonged to King Francis I of France and was among the first pieces displayed in the Louvre, which became a national museum after the French Revolution. Leonardo was later seen as a genius, and the painting gained popularity in the mid-19th century when French intellectuals praised it as mysterious and a symbol of the femme fatale. The Baedeker guide in 1878 called it "the most celebrated work of Leonardo in the Louvre," but it was mainly known to intellectuals, not the general public. An article in Ladies' Home Journal in 1910 declared it "the most famous portrait in the world."
The 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa and its return were reported worldwide, greatly increasing public recognition. During the 20th century, the painting was widely reproduced, merchandised, and parodied. It was said to have been copied in "300 paintings and 2,000 advertisements." Before the 20th century, the Mona Lisa was "just another Leonardo," but its theft and return brought it into the spotlight.
From December 1962 to March 1963, the French government loaned the painting to the United States for display in New York City and Washington, D.C. It traveled on the ocean liner SS France. In New York, about 1.7 million people waited to see it for 20 seconds. While in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a faulty sprinkler nearly drenched the painting, but its bulletproof glass case protected it. In 1974, the painting was shown in Tokyo and Moscow. In 2014, 9.3 million people visited the Louvre. Former director Henri Loyrette noted that "80 percent of visitors only want to see the Mona Lisa."
Before the 1962–1963 tour, the painting was valued at $100 million (equivalent to $1.08 billion in 2026), making it the most expensive painting in the world. No insurance was purchased, and more money was spent on security. In 2014, a France 24 article suggested selling the Mona Lisa to help reduce France’s national debt, but French law prohibits the sale of artworks in public museums.
Cultural depictions of the Mona Lisa include:
Early versions and copies
A version of the Mona Lisa known as Mujer de mano de Leonardo Abince ("Woman by Leonardo da Vinci's hand") at the Museo del Prado in Madrid was long believed to be painted by Leonardo da Vinci. After its restoration in 2012, experts now think it was created by one of Leonardo's students in his studio around the same time as the original Mona Lisa. The Prado Museum suggests the painting may have been made by Salaì (1480–1524) or Melzi (1493–1572), but this conclusion has been debated by others. The restored painting shows a slightly different viewpoint compared to the original Mona Lisa, which led some to believe it might be part of the world's first stereoscopic pair. However, a 2017 study showed that this pair does not provide reliable depth when viewed stereoscopically.
Another version, called the Isleworth Mona Lisa, was first purchased by an English nobleman in 1778 and rediscovered in 1913 by Hugh Blaker, an art expert. In 2012, the Mona Lisa Foundation shared the painting with the media. It depicts the same subject as Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. Scholars today are unsure about its origin. Some experts, such as Frank Zöllner, Martin Kemp, and Luke Syson, believe it was not painted by Leonardo. Others, including Salvatore Lorusso, Andrea Natali, and John F. Asmus, support the idea that Leonardo created it. Some experts, like Alessandro Vezzosi and Carlo Pedretti, remain uncertain.
A third version, known as the Hermitage Mona Lisa, is displayed at the Hermitage Museum. It was painted by an unknown artist from the 16th century.
Mona Lisaillusion
When a person in a photograph looks directly into the camera lens, the image creates an illusion that makes viewers feel as though the subject is looking at them, no matter where the photo is placed. This is probably why many people tell subjects to look at the camera instead of looking elsewhere when taking pictures. In psychology, this effect is called the "Mona Lisa illusion," named after the famous painting that also shows the same visual trick.
Features of the golden ratio
The painting includes elements of the golden ratio, which is a special proportion found in nature and art. It also shows several Golden triangles and a Golden spiral.
In Figure 1, the point M (Mona Lisa's left eye) divides two lines, [DK] and [EL], in the golden ratio. This means the lengths of these lines are split in a way that follows the special proportion.
The triangles ABC, DEF, AFG, FBH, HGF, and GHC are Golden triangles. In each of these six triangles, the base and the two legs (the sides that are not the base) are in the golden ratio to each other.
The Golden spiral is shown in Figure 2. It begins at Mona Lisa's right wrist and curves upward to touch the top of her head. The tip of her nose is the point where the spiral appears to come together.
According to Walter Isaacson, there is little evidence to suggest that Leonardo da Vinci intentionally used the golden ratio in the painting.