Aspect Art | art history, info & news

Mona Lisa smile interpretation has been a prime debate among art historians and scholars for centuries, since DaVinci first put his painting to canvas so many years ago. Theories abound and tests have been run, but still today people wonder why it was that such a simple curl of the lips could be so expressive.
The Original Theories

For many years, when asked “Why is Mona Lisa smiling?” many art historians were given to offering their own outlandish theories on the smile. It appears differently to everyone that views it and for that reason has been the source of much speculation. Largely, it was thought early on that her smile was supposed to be cloying, to draw the observer closer into observing her and her surroundings. Whether she was happy or just being ironic was always a source of much argument though, as outlined in the original biography by Vasari and his description of the smile.
Freud and the Mother Theory

Always prone to his own augmented theories on the nature of art and literature, Sigmund Freud proffered that the smile was a representation of Leonardo’s attraction to his mother. For him, “Why is the Mona Lisa smiling” was less a question and more of a psychological twist on things. Using his own Oedipus Complex theory, Freud built on the theory that the painting might be a representation of DaVinci or his mother instead of Lisa Gherardini.

This theory is further expanded in more recent books that suggest the painting might be a portrait of his mother and that the smile might be a knowing smile of sorts. Others have postulated that the smile might be similarly secretive regarding an affair DaVinci might have had with another of his possible patrons.
The Smile Itself

To best understand why everyone is so intrigued by this enigmatic smile, it’s important to know that the smile is incredibly unique as a visual stimulus. The nature of the smile, painted in Sfumato, forces the eye to adjust to it according to how you perceive it. Different angles, different people, and different focal points create different effects when viewing the painting. An Art Professor from Harvard, Margaret Livingstone outlined her theory that the smile can only be seen from a peripheral angle, usually when staring into the eyes. Other scientists, such as Christopher Tyler from Smith-Kettlewell Institute theorized that the smile is actually an example of random noise in human vision.

Regardless of the nature of the smile, it definitely appears different to different people and has a habit of extending or retracting according to who views her. The carefully painted corners of her mouth blend so seamlessly upward as to combine with the rest of her face and facilitate a perfect example of Sfumato and not just the blurring of the lines in the painting, but of the lines in our perception.
So, Why Was the Mona Lisa Smiling?

Recent science has taken many leaps and with it the development of some incredibly apt emotional recognition software has helped scientists begin the process of analyzing art’s great mysteries, including the Mona Lisa’s smile. In 2005, a team of scientists from the University of Amsterdam tried their hands at discerning exactly what the Mona Lisa’s smile means. Their software eventually came up with results that described the smile as 83% happy, 9% disgusted, 6% fearful, 2% angry, and less than 1% neutral. According to their research, the smile is definitely a meaningful expression and most likely is a happy one.

The science is of course new though and offers only the most cursory of examples as to the actual make up of the world’s most famous piece of art and the question of why the Mona Lisa is smiling.

In 1502 Leonardo DaVinci began painting what would become his defining masterwork, the Mona Lisa. Completed over the course of the four years to follow, the Mona Lisa has long been a symbol of the Renaissance and the artistic mastery of a man who did so many things in his life. Many have pondered the question - why did Leonardo paint Mona Lisa? The most commonly held belief is that it was a commission to paint the wife of a nobleman he was acquainted with. Others have held the belief that he may have painted himself as a woman or that the woman pictured was someone else, or possibly a lover.

How Old was Mona Lisa?

According to Giorgio Vasari, the Italian biographer of painters in the 16th century, the sitter for DaVinci’s painting was the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, a silk merchant in Florence. As his third wife, Lisa Gherardini, was born in 1479 and raised in Tuscany until marrying del Giocondo in 1495. That would have made Gherardini 24 years old when Leonardo started on the Mona Lisa, her husband much older than her.

In recent years there has been a lot more research on the identity and life of Gherardini and her role in DaVinci’s life and painting. It has been said that DaVinci’s father was friends with del Giocondo and that he most likely commissioned the painting himself for his friends. During the course of their marriage, Gherardini and her husband had five children and she died in 1542 at the age of 63.

Further study and research in the last two years has revealed that Gherardini’s second son was born in the same year as the Mona Lisa was started, meaning it likely would have been a commission commemorating that birth. This also lends to the theories about the veil Mona Lisa wears in the painting which many have pointed to as a common sign of pregnancy at that time.
Other Theories and Mona Lisa Facts

The only problem with blindly believing Vasari’s account of the painting is that by the time he was writing his biographies, the painting was in France, before he was even born actually. This has prompted many people to theorize other possibilities for the origins of the sitter in DaVinci’s painting.

There are quotes from DaVinci regarding a portrait of a Florentine Lady, which might also be one of two other portraits of women painted by him. There have been other comments that caused confusion, at one time even linking the painting to Francesco del Giocondo himself.

However, the most famous and controversial theory of alternate sources for the model are that the painting is a self-portrait. Comparing the self portraits of Leonardo that he drew in his life time with the facial points and features of the Mona Lisa, recent computer analysis has shown nearly flawless comparisons.

Some people state that this is likely because DaVinci was most familiar with his own face and that both pieces of art were drawn by him. However, there have also been theories that the self-portrait described is actually a picture of DaVinci’s mother, explaining the similarities between the two. Another famous painting of DaVinci’s, that of St. John the Baptist, contains many of the same features of the Mona Lisa and shows many similarities to DaVinci’s facial features. Whatever the correct answer it is clear that for Leonardo Da Vinci, Mona Lisa was a labor of love.

The Artist and Historical Value

When you boil down everything about the painting to those first few days the canvas spent in a workshop in Italy, there is still Leoanrdo Da Vinci. More than anything else, his identity as the artist has helped build up the painting to the kind of international cultdom it now holds. He is a symbol of all things Renaissance – a scientist, artist, and thinker beyond that of anyone else that came before him. For that reason, his works hold much more mystique than those of any other artist.

The mystery of Leonardo’s life as written by Vasari and his quirky methods of sleeping, learning, and even writing (backwards) has earned the painting much of its mystique. Along with that are the ambiguous possibilities of its source. No one is wholly sure who the model was for the Mona Lisa.

Vasari wrote that it was Lisa Gherardini and many people support this theory. However DaVinci mentions another woman, Giuliano de’ Medici and records in France refer to her as a courtesan. Other theories have mentioned that she actually be a he, Leonardo himself in this case. The art world largely agrees that Gherardini is the model, but the mystique remains.

Early on, Leonardo carried his painting with him as well, everywhere he went. It became a symbol of his talents and was used to acquire further commissions in France. A lot of people saw it and a lot more people were intrigued to see it. But, the early popularity of the painting was well deserved as the Mona Lisa was a revolution in the painting of portraits. He was the first to paint a portrait from the waist up, and used the single vanishing point in the background for the first time. His technique and ability to bring a woman to life on canvas was inspirational to painters everywhere.

After 1530 when Franics I, King of France, acquired the Mona Lisa, it became a permanent possession of royalty for centuries. Dukes from England tried to purchase, Emperors lifted it into their bed chambers, and Kings held it in the highest regard as a prized possession in their palaces. Whenever royalty fawns over something, the rest of the world is sure to follow.
Public Accessibility

When the painting was removed to the Louvre in 1804 – after Napoleon’s exile - the time was ripe for people to fall in love with Leonardo’s work again. The Romantic era of painting was upon France and with it a love affair with Leonardo’s masterpieces, especially upon realizing the importance of the Mona Lisa. Thousands of copies were painted and before long the world was swarming with visions and variations of the famous painting as artists attempted to emulate their hero, Leonardo. Because she was so famous, she became even more famous, exalted if only because she was so well known.

The Theft

When the painting was stolen in 1911 from the Louvre by an Italian employee there, the outcry was immediate and the imagery pasted in every newspaper and on every street corner ensured that everyone in the world would know the face of the Mona Lisa, famous as she then was.

It was after the failure to recover the painting that her image began appearing in much less respectful manners. Throughout France, her image began appearing in films, on vehicles and soon in farcical roles in popular culture. The public idolized the image and yet mocked the saturation of her face in the media. Regardless the world soon knew the true value of the Mona Lisa.

Why is the Mona Lisa So Popular Today?

When she was finally returned in 1913, the actual acquisition of the painting made for an even more astounding display. The painting was displayed throughout Italy in a year long tour. Parades were held, songs were written, and entire books were penned in her honor. The great masterpiece was found and the world rejoiced.

Soon afterward, in response to the oversaturation of her image and the worldwide recognition of her face, the up and coming arts movements began taking notice and born were the images of Marcel Duchamp in “L.H.O.O.Q”, Andy Warhol’s colored negatives, and Nat King Cole’s songs. Her image became synonymous with the barrier between high and low art and as the progression of modernist art movements began breaking down that barrier, she became instant fodder for sculptures of her head, alterations of her face, and stories on her origins.

With that instant recognition comes all of the criticism of da Vinci’s Mona Lisa that has created a chasm in her popularity. The question of whether she is famous for just being famous has long been argued and even today rages on in many scholarly circles.

The Mona Lisa is more than a simple work of art. The rumors, mysteries, and intrigue that have clouded it since it was first painted have made into an icon of sorts. Whatever his true intentions were when he painted it, there are hundreds of legends for Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, meaning scholars will continue debating for centuries to come.

Mona Lisa Theories

There have been years of scholarly debate as to the meaning of the Mona Lisa and what Da Vinci was trying to do with his painting. The discovery that much of the work is balanced with carefully constructed dimensions has been augmented by the perfect Golden Rectangle in the Mona Lisa’s face and the one in her neck. A shape whose ratio of length to width is 1.6 is considered a Golden Rectangle. The ratio itself is considered a common natural occurrence and is believed to be one of the most pleasing shapes to the human eye, a good reason why artists attempt to utilize it in their artwork.

However, in Da Vinci’s work, the appearance of such shapes is so perfectly situated that many people have begun to see the painting as a palate of symbols and hidden meanings. The truth may never be discovered, though it is a sure thing that Da Vinci threw every trick he had as an artist into the painting, including the creation of new techniques that worked to draw that much more attention to the facial features. Blurring the edges of the Mona Lisa’s mouth with the Sfumato painting technique many attribute to him has also created the illusion of a smile that changes depending on where you look.

As to what Da Vinci was trying to hide with that smile or in those hands or background, few have been able to quite agree. Religious allusions have been blown out of proportion in literature and film and the possibility that her smile hides some hidden knowledge still persists in new books and theories almost annually.

Meaning of the Mona Lisa – The Visual Effects

What causes most people to so thoroughly disbelieve that the Mona Lisa is a simple portrait is the incredible detail and multilayered effects of the painting that even now are just being discovered. With every flicker of the eye and curl of the smile, the Mona Lisa mystery spreads to a new generation. Everyone knows of the effects of the smile, but the rest of the face and the background have similar effects, creating the appearance that the woman in the painting is more alive than simple paint ever could be.

For example, the horizon in the background appears at different levels on either side of her face. On the left side, it is lower, level with the eyes and creating a proper perspective in portrait. The right side however, is distorted. Because the left side is level, the view from the right should create a downward slope in the eyes from the left side. However, the painting slopes the opposite direction instead. This creates the subtle effect of rounding the face and making it feel more alive.

It also creates part of the effect seen in the eyes in which they appear to follow the observer, one of many stories of Mona Lisa observers take home with them from the Louvre. The human eye will take two separate images from different dimensional perspectives and combine them in certain instances – say when two differently angled X-rays are taken – and create the illusion of a three dimensional shape. By forcing the observer to compensate where they are looking and how they absorb the painting, Leonardo was able to create the illusion that the Mona Lisa’s eyes and face move.

This level of detail and carefully planned effect has caused many people to consider it highly unlikely that DaVinci was painting a simple portrait. Others still find it hard to believe that such effects were contrived on purpose, given the complexity of the portrait. The mysteries thus continue on, unanswered.

Stories behind the Mona Lisa’s Smile

The smile is easily the most discussed of the Mona Lisa’s many mysteries. The primary consensus is that it is simply a smile. However, from an artist with the talent of Da Vinci, it surely was being utilized to display some hidden meaning, right? That is the theory of many scholars, and their thoughts are often quite vivid.

One of the many theories is that Da Vinci might have painted his mother into the portrait, a theory Sigmund Freud was fond of that included the idea that DaVinci might have had a sexual attraction to his mother. Support for such a theory is minimal though many point to the self-portraits of Da Vinci which might actually be paintings of his mother and his historical relation to her.

As for the model herself, many have stated that Lisa Gherardini was pregnant when the painting was started, supported by the wearing of the veil over her hair and the black clothing. However, others still see the smile as ironic or sad and point to her unhappiness in her marriage. Many stories behind Mona Lisa are directly related to her identity as Gherardini and her social standing.

However, another theory is that Da Vinci might have actually used a model, in this case Lisa Gherardini, but did not paint her. It’s impossible to know whether the truth of the Mona Lisa lays in the likeness of that woman from Florence, but the evidence still points to her role in its painting. However, with so many other features in the painting it’s easy to theorize that the painting itself might have a completely different goal. He may have painted her likeness as the basis of the painting and used it as a chance to utilize any of a number of other techniques found.

Another Odd Theory – Mona Lisa Was a Man

One theory that has stuck for many years despite the lack of evidence and support is that the painting is actually a self-portrait of Da Vinci himself and that the painting is something of a joke, with DaVinci smirking at his audience. The support for this theory lies mostly in the similarity in the facial structure of Da Vinci’s self portraits with the Mona Lisa. Leonardo DaVinci as a woman is still a hard image to accept for many scholars though.

However, recent computer programs used to line up the sketch and painting have shown that the facial features are almost exact matches. Other scholars have noted though that the reason for this might be nothing more than the results of a single artist creating both works with the same techniques. The truth about Mona Lisa might lie in that she isn’t really a she, but the theory is very much in contention and there is no way to prove it one way or the other.

The Controversy of the Mona Lisa

The painting’s striking visual effects and incredibly robust history has long had a massive effect on those that view. Kings and Emperors have placed her in their bedrooms, a museum worker stole her, and other men have thrown rocks and acid at her. For the Mona Lisa, controversy lies in the painting’s source, its meaning, and its popularity. However, more than anything else, Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, no matter its meaning, is a result of the effect it has on its viewers. It’s incredibly hard to believe such an incredibly beautiful painting was born of a simple commission for a merchant’s wife.

The details of the Mona Lisa style utilized by Leonardo have enthralled and confused historians for centuries. Some of the smallest details have become some of art’s biggest mysteries. Beyond the smile, there are many other aspects deserving of more attention in their relation to the power of the overall painting.

Details of the Mona Lisa - Face

The Mona Lisa’s face is a culmination of numerous different stylistic elements that have the ultimate effect of drawing the observer’s attention directly to that focal point. By surrounding the face with the darkened surfaces of her dress, hair and veil, Leonardo utilized the natural lighting embracing her breast and hands to focus attention on the face.

The face itself is comprised of a numerous very powerful features. Foremost, everyone recognizes the enigmatic smile as an important aspect. Still debated today, the smile is seen differently by everyone who views the painting. It has been noted as innocent, happy, smug, and even a subconscious admission of Oedipal intrigue by Leonardo.

The combination of that almost imperceptible smile and the lighting of the spherical shapes on her face creates an inviting face that draws the viewer in, all the while contrasting with Leonardo’s use of distance and separation in the armrest and columns. Along with the eyes, these features are the most effective of the many lasting effects Leonardo crafts in this painting, a portrait that is so much more than a portrait.

Details of the Mona Lisa - Eyebrows

The face of the Mona Lisa is famously lacking any eyebrows, something many observers immediately note when viewing the painting. The reason for this deficiency is still largely unknown, as the question of whether or not it was purposefully done or not cannot really be known. One theory is that they might have been irretrievably destroyed during an early restoration hundreds of years ago. Another theory is that young women in that era often had their eyebrows plucked or removed as a part of popular fashion.

Details of the Mona Lisa – Eyes

In painting the Mona Lisa, Leonardo manage to create the magnificent effect of distance of closeness at the same time. Buried in the shadow of her brow, Mona Lisa’s eyes are the most piercing and inviting aspect of the entire painting. While the rest of the painting creates a sense of distance and separation, Mona Lisa’s eyes work to bridge that gap and invite the observer ever closer. The eyes focus directly on the observer and despite the simple look they offer, are vital to fully appreciating the dynamic effects of the facial expression. By staring at the eyes, the smile’s effect is amplified in periphery, creating an even more powerful expression. The beauty of this simplistic smile can be compared to the most beautiful of Mona Lisa lillies.

With a smile that is ageless, films, novels, and the ever beautiful Mona Lisa lily named for her elegant simplicity, Mona Lisa’s features are the paramount of artistic talent and expression.

The Mona Lisa, by Leonardo Da Vinci is not only one of the most important paintings ever created, it was one of the most important to Leonardo himself, a work he spent more than four years on and carried with him everywhere he went for the remainder of his life. The Importance of the Mona Lisa to Leonardo has caused great deals of speculation as to why he might have painted it and what the painting might be depicting.

When was the Mona Lisa Painted and Why?

The original Mona Lisa was painted in 1503 by Leonardo Da Vinci in his home in Italy. Vasari, the famous Italian biographer, wrote that it was a commission for Francesco del Giacondo and his wife Lisa Ghirardi, the model. Ghirardi would have been a 24 year old recent bride about to give birth to her second child at the time. Other scholars have made connections between Leonardo’s father and Francesco as friends and that Leonardo’s father might have commissioned the painting himself as a gift.

However, none of these facts are sufficient to explaining why the painting held so much value to Leonardo during his life. There are numerous theories recently postulated (in the last 100 years or so) that hope to tackle this question and make sense of the life and work of the world’s most important artist.

Other Models in the Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci

With the outstanding theory being that the Mona Lisa is a painting of Lisa Ghirardi and other theories pointing to the possibility that it could be either Constanza d’Avalos or Isabella of Aragon, Duchess of Milan, the question of its importance is still not answered. While the revolutionary style and expression in the portrait have enthralled the art world since it was painted, it doesn’t explain DaVinci’s attachment.

A Self Portrait or His Mother?

There are further theories that the painting might have been a self-portrait, supported by the similarity of the painting to other self-portraits of DaVinci he painted and with other paintings that carry similar facial features. Another theory still postulates that he may have instilled some of the features of his mother in all of these paintings, making the Mona Lisa a portrait not of Lisa Ghirardi in detail, but of his mother Caterina.

The Importance of his Life’s Work

Throughout his life, Leonardo was intrigued by almost everything under the sun. He had a habit of infusing his interests into numerous works, adding touches of his obsession with weather and topography into the Mona Lisa in the background to show humanity’s culmination with nature. For that reason, his artwork was incredibly important to him, not only as art but as an expression of his life’s work. With such a small painting, and four years of work put into it, it could just be that he kept it with him as a representative of that.

With so much time and energy put into his masterpiece, Leonardo may have simply been wary to part way s with it, unable to find a suitable buyer, or lost the commission after the painting was completed. Whatever reason he so loved it though, Mona Lisa by da Vinci is full of the kinds of mystery and importance that has endured for more than 500 years.