Why Mona Lisa Is an Absolute Masterpiece

The magic hidden in plain sight

Wikimedia commons image. All images edited by the author.

Let’s talk about the obvious things first.

The first obvious thing is that Mona Lisa was astonishingly beautiful back in the day.

She might not have Angelina Jolie’s cheekbones or Emma Watson’s eyes, but that’s not how people saw her 600 years ago.

The Ancient Greeks glorified women with bigger noses and round cheeks. In the Middle Ages, round figures were seen as a symbol of health and status. Women plucked their hair just to make their foreheads look taller.

Yes, Mona Lisa was a babe.

Beauty standards going way back. Left to right: 1. Leonardo da Vinci (Wikimedia Commons) 2. Sandro Botticelli (Wikimedia Commons) 3. Random Greek statue (Wikimedia Commons). Edited by me.

The second obvious thing is that Mona Lisa was insanely photorealistic for the time. In 1500s people had a very primitive understanding of how physics work. I mean, it was 200 years before we discovered gravity.

Most artists were having trouble painting shadows correctly…

Two suns? Original painting by Lorenzo di Credi (Wikimedia Commons). Edited by me.

…dealing with perspective (depth of distance)…

Which is closer: the man on the horse or the green soldier on the right? Medieval drawing, artist unknown (Wikimedia Commons)

…or using contrast sparingly to imitate real light.

A portrait; just not a realistic one. “Portrait of a Young Woman” by Sandro Botticelli (Wikimedia Commons)

Leonardo da Vinci’s understanding of how light works (especially on a human face) was unparalleled at the time.

I mean, just look at how much work he put into Lisa’s veil alone:

1. Veil is dark when it overlaps background. 2. Veil is almost invisible due to light reflecting from the face. Original painting by Leonardo da Vinci (Wikimedia Commons). Edited by me.

The third obvious thing is that the entire concept of a Mona Lisa portrait was controversial and provoking.