Blog #3 The Lonely Palette Podcast Ep 25: Mission Mona Lisa by Andy Menzel

 

Blog post #3

By Andy Menzel

For my third blog post I decided to do an episode of the Lonely Pallet podcast. this episode in particular talked about a painting that needs no introduction- DaVinci’s Mona Lisa. Probably one of, if not the most famous painting int the world currently located in the Louvre in France. The podcast starts out with commentary from people and young children about the painting, being asked certain questions and such. This is especially interesting because we get to hear what some kids think about the painting which is always a rare treat since kids have such a unique approach to how they view and talk about art, especially a piece like the Mona Lisa. The narrator then talks about how it’s the painting to see, especially when you go to the Louvre. Yet in all its glory and splendor, one interesting commentor replies at 3:03 that “it's just paint on wood, it's as ephemeral as the rest of us”.

That comment really struck with me. Especially when you consider that the Mona Lisa is the Jesus of paintings and even art in general. Everyone knows about her, she’s sung about and talked about in droves, she even has a mailbox dedicated to all the love letters that she receives. The narrator then talks about how when it comes to treating this piece of art, normal rules don’t apply instead mob rules apply. This is why she isn’t cleaned and is kept in the state she’s in. This is the state her audience expects after all and without her audience she’s got nothing really. The narrator then talks about the painting’s history and how it had an impact on the renaissance as a whole. How the changing religious rulership led to the rats finally being funded, this eventually led to large numbers of commissions coming in. For the first time in art history, art wasn’t being controlled by the church and artists could actually explore what they wanted to paint and put out, this of course leads to many great pieces that eventually get commissioned and during the 1600s these three great artists you would have commission work for you. Leonardo Da Vinci of course, Michelangelo and Raphael.

 

The high renaissance was really when art as creative genius showed up. Artists began to become celebrities just like some of them are today. The Mona Lisa as a work is really just an experimentation by DaVinci as a painter just as modern-day artists experiment and sometimes succeed or fail. The Mona Lisa was really a painting that DaVinci never really finished, he constantly added to it, experimented upon it and he never gave it up. From the way she is painted and the small details about her. Her lack of jewelry, even though she would have been rich, her shaved eyebrows and her smile. Her smile is one of the most eerie things about the painting as if she’s hiding secrets to us. DaVinci was entranced with lips in general and this painting really shows it. Everything about this painting really shows his experimentation with light, shade as well as various forms and even the time of day that it’s indicative of.

mona lisa free images - Bing images

What really caused the Mona Lisa to become famous was the fact that she was stolen in the early 1900s by an Italian handyman. For two years she was searched for by everyone, fingers were pointed, and shockwaves spread out far and wide. After this event the Mona Lisa was never really a painting, she had skyrocketed to a place that little to no art pieces had ever gotten to, and she hasn’t come down since.  Despite being surrounded by other Italian paintings, many of whom are just as technical as she is, she dominates the room. When you enter the room, you immediately look to her, her fame has definitely made her a celebrity as far as art goes. Learning about this piece, her history as well as her influence is definitely an important thing going forward and will help us understand art better, but also where it might be headed into the future.


 

 


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