A Deeper Meaning--Why is the Mona Lisa Smiling?

[TheDOMINATOR]

In Da Vinci's famous painting, the Mona Lisa, why is she smiling? She appears to happy, but is she, or is there something troubling her that we cannot easily see, and maybe get a hint of in her divinely painted face?

Why does the Mona Lisa appear to be happy?

[cthulhu dawn127]

I say she's just smiling to look nice for the picture. I wanna know why the background on either side of her is at different levels. Couldn't be by accident from Da Vinci, I say there's some meaning behind it. Hate to over analyze though maybe it's just there cuz it is

[TheDOMINATOR]

Maybe Da Vinci was trying to tell us something.

[cthulhu dawn127]

Haha but what could he tell us with a smile and an uneven background. Why be so confusing Da Vinci why not just write something on the back if you wanna say it?

[Dlav123]

she is smiling because da vinci hired comedians and she was laughting which then turned into a smile wells that what i heard anyway
i know it took da vinci 48 hours to do her lips and there are 7 layers in the painting

[TheDOMINATOR]

Lolz, I just saw Mona Lisa Smile (starring Julia Roberts) and it got me thinking about this question.

You can take this question literally, or as a metaphor.

[Pigeon Poop]

Perhaps a better question would be; Is Mona Lisa smiling? Or better yet; What is she looking at?

That has been argued for centuries now. There are those that speculate the the Mona Lisa is a 'self portrait' of DaVinci, if this is true, then perhaps he included the smug smile to allude to his inner fantasy. After all, she would have been as hot as Jessica Alba in those days.

It is hard to come to any conclusion with any of his great works, like Nostradamus, one could never tell what they were thinking. I'm sure if he were alive today, he would say there was no meaning in that painting, "I just felt like painting it".

[cthulhu dawn127]

wow that's insane! 48 hours just for the lips? haha why spend so long on them if they weren't important maybe there is something more to it

[TheDOMINATOR]

Lolz. You're probably right there, Pigeon Poop.

[Pigeon Poop]

wow that's insane! 48 hours just for the lips? haha why spend so long on them if they weren't important maybe there is something more to it



Not really, once you consider it took him 4 years to paint the entire portrait.

[cthulhu dawn127]

quite the perfectionist paid off nicely with the painting

[Pigeon Poop]

Yeah it did. Currently there isn't even a monetary value assigned to the painting, it's worth that much. It isn't even insured.

[Ayliffe]

Wow its so good to see people with actual brains on the internet. :)

[torchohanger]

Mona Lisa, the mysterious woman immortalized in Leonardo da Vinci's 16th century masterpiece, had just given birth to her second son when she sat for the painting, a French art expert said on Tuesday.

The discovery was made by a team of Canadian scientists who used special infrared and three-dimensional technology to peer through hitherto impenetrable paint layers on the work, which now sits in the Louvre museum in Paris.

Bruno Mottin of the French Museums' Center for Research and Restoration said that on very close examination of the painting it became clear that the Mona Lisa's dress was covered in a thin transparent gauze veil.

"This type of gauze dress ... was typical of the kind worn in early 16th century Italy by women who were pregnant or who had just given birth. This is something that had never been seen up to now because the painting was always judged to be dark and difficult to examine," he told a news conference.

"We can now say that this painting by Leonardo da Vinci was painted to commemorate the birth of the second son of the Mona Lisa, which helps us to date it more precisely to around 1503."

GG google.

[Pigeon Poop]

Experts agree that the model for the painting is Lisa Gherardini. She was married to Francesco di Bartolomeo di Zanobi del Giocondo, a wealthy merchant, when she was 16. She was 24 and had 2 sons when she posed for the portrait.

Monna Lisa was her original title. Due to a spelling error, the name changed to Mona Lisa.
La Joconde is the French pronunciation, La Gioconda is the Italian. The painting is, also, unsigned by the artist. It resides in its own 7 million dollar room at the Louvre. The portrait is painted on a Poplar wood panel.


Just a few facts regarding.

[Omnicide]

Heh...most cases with people wondering about a deeper meaning about art tends to end up with a "I just felt like it." answer from the artist. Still, doesn't mean it's not fun to come up with different theories.

First time I've ever seen the name of the woman who posed for the Mona Lisa. For some reason I never thought her name would actually be in the title.

[Orbit Hero]

My teacher told me that the Mona Liza was a painting of himself as if he were a woman or something like that.

Ugh the whole Da Vinci code and stuff is cool, but I wouldnt wanna get into it when I doubt Da Vinci wanted someone to know some type of secret about 300 years into the future, of course I can't go back in time or read a dead persons mind so....wut to do.

[cmlogu01]

She may have been retarted.
Or, if anyone hasn't considered this yet, maybe she was happy.