It’s something that didn’t hit me until I saw the actual painting in the Louvre. And this is something that is actually studied: seeing art in person is the way to go. You’re just not getting the full effect on a photo or repro.
Just do a Google Image search for her, and on a very basic level, the hues are all over the place. Beyond that, I won’t get to describe all the differences.
It also helped that I recently graduated college, and was steeped in the liberal arts. So all sorts of ideas were swirling in my head.
So I took the opportunity to visit the Louvre while visiting Paris. And then went to visit the Mona Lisa. On an unassuming day, she’s a relatively small painting in a rather large room. She had the usual throng of tourists surrounding her. Just sitting there modestly, as she does in the painting.
So I walked up to take a closer look.
And I started thinking. And wondering what she’s thinking.
And then I started wondering, “I wonder is she’s thinking what I think she’s thinking.”
And then she looked back.
“Yes.”
It wasn’t a sudden answer. It was a dynamic one.
One that silently crescendoed the more I realized I was catching on.
And then I got it.
Motion from stillness.
Reaching through 500 years of history.
A dynamic thought which never changes.
A movie that doesn’t need to move, and is therefore the perfection of painting.
A masterpiece and a culmination of the medium itself.
“it’s been done!” I ran out screaming. “You can stop painting now, it’s been done!”
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