Mona Lisa

Believed to be a portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Florentine merchant Francesco del Giocondo, the Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo da Vinci between approximately 1503 and 1519. Rather than delivering it to the patron, Leonardo brought the portrait with him to France, where King François I acquired it around 1518. The painting entered the French royal collections and has been part of the Louvre's holdings since the museum opened during the French Revolution.

The painting is celebrated for Leonardo's masterly use of sfumato, a technique involving fine glazes that create soft, smoky transitions between colors and tones. The sitter is depicted in a natural three-quarter pose, engaging the viewer with her famously enigmatic smile. The distant, misty landscape behind her showcases Leonardo's understanding of atmospheric perspective.

The Mona Lisa's global fame was amplified after it was stolen from the Louvre on August 21, 1911, by Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian museum worker. The masterpiece remained missing for over two years before its recovery in Florence in 1913. Today it is displayed behind climate-controlled bulletproof glass in the Salle des États, the museum's largest room, which was renovated in 2019 with deep midnight-blue walls to enhance the visual contrast with the artworks.