The Mona Lisa is…Small

The Mona Lisa

I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is the most recognizable work of art in the world. It’s certainly the most valuable. Since it hasn’t actually been bought/sold we have to rely on insurance value, and based on its 1962 insurance valuation of $100 million, it would be valued at ~ $820 million in today’s dollars. That blows the most expensive art sale out of the water – Salvator Mundi (also by Da Vinci) sold for $450.3 million in 2017.

The Mona Lisa has been located in Paris’ world-renowned Louvre Museum since 1797 which today attracts over 10 million visitors each year.  Despite being the world’s largest art museum, home to over 38,000 works of art, for most visitors (including ourselves) the Mona Lisa is the main attraction. From the moment you descend below the glass pyramids of the Louvre, there are signs guiding you in the direction of the Mona Lisa. One would think that it would be somewhat difficult to navigate such a massive museum in search of one single painting, but there are signs at seemingly every corner and turn pointing you in the right direction.

So, with all of this hype, you’d expect to be blown away at the first sight of this masterpiece…not the case.

First of all, you need to fight your way through a crowd of iPhones and selfie sticks to get a glimpse of the painting. Second, the painting is small. The swarms of tourists make it look even smaller, and the fact that it is located directly opposite a huge floor-to-ceiling painting (The Wedding Feast at Cana by Paolo Veronese) certainly doesn’t help.

The Mona Lisa measures an unimpressive 2′ 6″ x 1′ 9″ – the size of something you’d hang in your living room that’s large enough to fill some empty space on a wall but small enough not to be distracting. It’s hard not to be underwhelmed. Meanwhile, if you do a 180-degree turn, the neighboring painting by Veronese is significantly more impressive…at least to the layman. While I’m sure the Mona Lisa is artistically more significant for reasons I wouldn’t comprehend, The Wedding Feast at Cana is just much more fun to look at. There’s more going on and it’s huge! The painting is over 22 ft. tall and 32 ft. wide. Not to mention, everyone is so busy snapping selfies with Lisa that practically no one even notices the gigantic painting behind them. Unless you have a degree in art history, it’s hard to argue that the Mona Lisa is the best painting in the small wing of the museum in which it is located let alone in the world.

That being said, if you visit the Louvre you should still make a point to see the Mona Lisa; it’s obviously famous for a reason. Just be sure to temper your expectations and expect crowds. Also take the time to enjoy some of the other 38,000+ works of art in the museum, many of which are more impressive to the untrained eye.

There are paintings that you can’t help but stop to admire…

Ceilings that look like this…

140 carat diamonds…

And this guy who’s having a really bad day…