Mona Lisa

Year: 1503–1506

Style: Italian Renaissance

Medium: Oil Painting

Location: Louvre Museum

Think About It

Do you think the Mona Lisa is smiling or not?
Where is the Mona Lisa looking? Move around the room and look at the painting. Where does the Mona Lisa appear to be looking from each location?
What colors does Leonardo use? Is there a wide range of colors, or narrow range?
How is light and dark used to make the painting more realistic?
Look at the lines and edges. Are the lines soft or hard?

Born: April 15, 1452

Died: May 2, 1519

The Mona Lisa was stollen in 1911 and was not found for two years.
Imaging of the Mona Lisa indicates that Da Vinci first drew the painting in charcoal.
Many historians believe that the painting is of the wife of a Florentine merchant, Lisa Gherardini.
Chiaroscuro, using strong contrasts between light and dark, was used to make the painting look more three dimensional.
Leonardo used sfumato, the technique of allowing the colors to gradually merge into each other producing soft outlines and hazy forms.
The painting was done on poplar plank (a flat piece of wood).
The painting is kept behind bullet-proof glass.