You already knew about this painting at a fairly young age!
Why?
Why is this painting out of all paintings in the world is so famous?
Let us talk about it, but before that let me tell you this is going to be useful as this story teaches us something very important.
Monalisa was a commission work given to Leonardo da Vinci by a very wealthy silk merchant, he wanted him to paint his wife, although the artist never finished the painting and the painting was never given to the person who commissioned it.
leonardo painted the painting from 1503-1506 but he may have continued working on it as long as 1517.
Some theories say that the painting looks like Leonardo, if that is, it is obvious he would have seen him in the mirror and painted the painting as no model would sit for that long, especially when the charges were too high for the artist to pay.
The painting was very dear to him and he took it with him everywhere he went and that's how the painting ended up in France when he moved from Italy to France
The king of France bought the painting after the death of the artist, from then the painting became Louvre museum property.
For years it was just another painting hanging on the museum wall until 21 august 1911 when it was stolen
YES STOLEN!
Interesting thing to note that it was stolen on Monday morning and it wasn't until Tuesday noon that they realized the painting was gone.
The news spread and media took over , hyped the whole scenario blaming the French government.
Huge crowd gathered in front of the museum to see the hooks on which painting was hanging.
The painting was lost t
o be never found again until 1913.
the handyman from the louvre museum stole the painting kept with him and too it to Italy where he tried selling it to the owner of Uffizi gallery, that's when he got caught.
The painting was recovered and rejoiced in Italy and returned back to France in 1913.
Maybe smiling woman became an overnight sensation and was the most famous work of art in the world.
The theft launched it into becoming a household name for people who had never been to
Europe and had no interest in art. people from different countries started coming
to see the painting.
Monalisa is the painting which is most seen talked about and shared.
This is where the most important lesson is.
Yes! in the sharing part.
it was the sharing of the painting that made it popular and we can infer from this how important sharing of artwork is!
There is a psychological phenomenon which says that people tend to prefer the things they are familiar with.
So the more our work is shared among public through social media or any other platform the more familiarity we generate.
There are many artist whom I follow who share their works over and over and over again. for eg Annie Stegg.
While creating a work of art we have put so many hours in it so it is worth sharing a million times, that's how we develop an audience through familiarity.
SHARE SHARE SHARE
I hope you learned something crucial today and more importantly I hope you will implement this in your art journey because am going to do that.
Share this blog with your friends whom you think this information will be useful. Comments down below to what you didn't know about Monalisa before
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Thankyou for reading, bye!
sources:
The Mona Lisa is Missing – Stealing the World’s Most Famous Painting
Mona Lisa: The theft that created a legend
The Theft That Made The 'Mona Lisa' A Masterpiece
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