[Captain Peter Blood]

I have always considered the Mona Lisa painting overblown. I have never thought this a particularly great work of art and have always looked upon with great amusement at the Art Scholars and Art Snobs who trip all over themselves to put their own subjectives views on what is a overrated art work. I have always wondered if there was a colossal inside joke with this painting that only Da Vinci knew.

[farmfriend]

I have always wondered if there was a colossal inside joke with this painting that only Da Vinci knew.,

See my post #2.

[King Black Robe]

Really? I think it is a beautiful painting, but it is just a painting. It's not a life. Sometimes human perspective can get really screwed up. We groan over the natural deterioration of something like this -- and I do believe it is beautiful -- while tiny living, irreplaceable works of art are destroy through abortion, without a care by many. Not only that, they celebrate the destruction. There is no comparison in value and beauty between the two. The only difference is perceived value -- a statement more about the perceivers than the perceivees.

[1Old Pro]

I have always considered the Mona Lisa painting overblown.

Well, I was going to ask, What makes this painting a masterpiece anyway?

[azhenfud]

"I have always wondered if there was a colossal inside joke with this painting that only Da Vinci knew."

Yeah, like painting the homeliest broad alive and watching the french fall over themselves to embrace her.

[wtc911]

Our youngest daughter, 14 at the time, stood in front of it for ten minutes then said "I don't get it" and walked away.

[george wythe]

I have always wondered if there was a colossal inside joke with this painting that only Da Vinci knew.

From my art appreciation class, I remember that Da Vinci broke new ground with his Mona Lisa. Before Da Vince, no major Western painter had combined a landscape and a portrait into a single painting successfully.

If you examine the Mona Lisa, you will realize that Da Vinci was a masterful revolutionary for his time.

Of course, you could say now, "Big deal."

Now even my young niece can combine a portrait and a landscape into a painting, but before Da Vince, that was not done by major Western painters.

It reminds me of Columbus; anybody with a sail boat could try to reach the Americas from Europe, but Columbus was a revolutionary on his time.

[Paved Paradise]

I wouldn't wish horrors like that on anyone. There are a lot of good people in France, it's just that you won't find them in the cities (e.g. Paris), just like in America, the people in the heartland are very different from the New Yorkers, San Franciscans, etc. although I do believe there are good, decent people everywhere (of course, the scum are everywhere too). Try not to be mean-spirited.

[wideminded]

I have always considered the Mona Lisa painting overblown. I have never thought this a particularly great work of art

To each his own. I hadn't looked at it for a while and when I saw it at the beginning of this thread, my reaction was Wow. Maybe I would react the same way if I saw a woman who looked like that. Da Vinci was an incredible genius and I think it shows through here.

[Ditter]

I agree. I saw the Mona Lisa 40 years ago & was terribly disappointed. It is small, drab & unintresting. I have seen it twice since & my opinion has not changed.

[Calvin Locke]

FWIW, an HS art teacher of mine went to see it at the National Gallery in D.C. around 1971. He said they had a magnifying bubble
on it when he went, and the level of detail in the background is amazing.