Mona Lisa Facts

The Mona Lisa is a masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance. It is the most famous, the most visited, the most valuable work of art in the world.

Painted by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci, the Mona Lisa is unfinished because Leonardo da Vinci has worked on it over several years without fully completing it to his satisfaction.

Leonardo was known for being a perfectionist, often taking long periods to refine his works, and he frequently moved between projects. He continued refining it until 1517. Leonardo da Vinci's painting skills wore away by the year 1517 as he suffered nerve damage to his right hand after fainting, which could be one reason why he left the Mona Lisa unfinished.

The name Mona Lisa is based on the presumption that it depicts Lisa del Giocondo. Monna in Italian is a polite form of address originating as ma donna — similar to Ma'am, Madam, or my lady in English. The title of the painting is spelled in Italian as Monna Lisa.

The painting has been traditionally considered to depict Lisa del Giocondo, the wife of a wealthy Florentine silk merchant, Francesco del Giocondo. The painting is thought to have been commissioned for their new home, and to celebrate the birth of their second son, Andrea.

The Italian name for the painting, La Gioconda, means 'the jocund one' ('happy or jovial person'), a pun on the feminine form of Lisa's married name, Giocondo. In French, the title La Joconde has the same meaning.

On 21 August 1911, the painting was stolen from the Louvre. The painting was first reported missing the next day by painter Louis Béroud. French poet Guillaume Apollinaire and Pablo Picasso, were briefly questioned, but were exonerated later. The real culprit was Peruggia, an Italian handyman who had previously worked at the Louvre. He walked into the museum dressed as a maintenance worker and walked out of the museum with the masterpiece hidden under his clothes.
After keeping the painting hidden in a trunk in his Paris apartment for two years, Peruggia attempted to sell the painting to an Italian art dealer in Florence. Peruggia was arrested, and the Mona Lisa was recovered.
The theft not only turned the Mona Lisa into a global cultural icon but also made it the most famous painting in the world. The painting toured Italy before being reinstalled in the Louvre, where heightened security measures were implemented.

Napoleon Bonaparte kept the Mona Lisa in the Tuileries Palace in Paris for a few years while he lived there.
At Louvre, the Mona Lisa is displayed in a specially designed, climate-controlled case behind bulletproof glass. The temperature is kept between 18°C (64°F) and 21°C (70°F), and the case includes a layer of silica gel to maintain a relative humidity of 55%.

The painting is illuminated by a 20-watt LED lamp that was specially designed for this painting. The lamp has a Colour Rendering Index of up to 98 and minimizes infrared and ultraviolet radiation, which could otherwise degrade the painting.

The Mona Lisa is painted on a poplar wood panel, not on canvas.

Leonardo da Vinci began working on the Mona Lisa around 1503 and continued refining it for several years, but he never considered it complete. Although it was commissioned by a private client, Leonardo kept the painting and brought it with him to France, where he lived until his death in 1519, possibly intending to add more details.

In 1911, when the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre, Pablo Picasso was questioned as part of the investigation because of his connection to a man named Géry Pieret, a Belgian who had previously stolen artifacts from the Louvre. Picasso was quickly cleared of any involvement in the Mona Lisa theft.