Mona Lisa Smiling

Writen by David Waddleton

There is some confusion or disagreement to whether Mona Lisa is smiling in the ever so famous painting by Leonardo de Vinci, and even though the majority of people think that she is smiling there continues to be random studies and questioning. Maybe from a history stand point our views and opinions would have been different if the question about the smile was asked 400 years ago.

Located in the Louvre museum of art in Paris, France there hangs the aging 500 year old Mona Lisa. At first glance many will say the portrait of the unknown woman is smiling and then for some others the smile seems to fade after and extended period of time of observation. Was this ambiguous smile painted with an intention to confuse or to inspire curiosity and wonder? Every year or so the Mona Lisa is inspected for aging and deterioration. When it is necessary touch ups are made very carefully to the painting. This has raised some concerns with historians and art enthusiasts who worry that with continuous restoration the Mona Lisa will eventually lose her original appearance and intended facial emotions.

The painting has yellowed from the layers of varnish applied to protect it over the centuries, but so far the Louvre has resisted pressure to touch it up. The last real work on the Mona Lisa dates back to the mid 1950s, when several age spots were removed. The thin poplar panel on which the Mona Lisa was painted in oil has changed shape since the last evaluation done by conservation experts. The question remains is the change in shape of the panel and the touch ups enough to change the facial expressions?

Some studies of Mona Lisa's smile have concluded that she was smiling because she was a majority percent happy, and then a small percent disgusted, fearful and a little angry through scientific calculations and computer imagery emotion detection. With applied technology it can be illuminating to hear the results of a certain experiment but I believe that your own opinion of the piece is all that you need and not to depend on what a computer concludes is a smile or not. Human intuition will always be more accurate then a computer and for that I mean I can personally tell by the way a friend walks, sits, smiles if he is upset or sad or happy even a baby reacts to a smile.

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