The Secret Of The Mona Lisa's Smile
The Mona Lisa is a portrait painted by the Italian Leonardo da Vinci, being nowadays one of the most valuable paintings in the world.
But... What it's the secret meaning of the paint?
The Mona Lisa’s paint has a mysterious smile that seems to change depending on how each one focusses one’s eyes. A lot of researches have tried to explain why the smile seems different by people. There are a wide range of explanations and theories that try to explain by the point of view of the Mona Lisa's feelings.
Some of the theories says:
- The smile was drawn in low spatial frequencies, so it means it will best seen from a certain distance or with peripheral vision. That's the reason that can explain why the smile seems to appear when looking at the Mona Lisa's eyes than when looking at the "smile" itself.
- The human visual system have variable levels of noises that can change the magnitude of the smile.
- Another theory argue that the secret is the dynamic position of the paint's facial muscles, that makes us unconsciously extend her smile, mixed with the emotions of the paint's viewer.
So, what's the truth? Is the Mona Lisa smiling or not?
There are some researches from the University of Amsterdam where they scaned the paint through an emotion recognition computer software, which found the smile to be: 83% happy, 9% displeaced 6% fearful, 2% angry
n late 2005, Dutch researchers from the University of Amsterdam ran the painting's image through "emotion recognition" computer software developed in collaboration with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The technology demonstration found the smile to be 83% happy, 9% disgusted, 6% fearful and 2% angry.
It makes us conclude that no one have a correct answer: The Mona Lisa is the most-discussed paint ever, because of the subject’s ambiguous look & smile.
I think that‘s one of the main reasons why this painting got so famous.. people are just attracted to mysteries (:
You're totally right! People are always fascinated about the mysteries this paint involves!
I agree! The Mona Lisa is one of the greatest paintings of all time there’s so much to explore visually and conceptually-
One thing that's really cool about the painting: the longer you stare at the eyes, the more the smile seems to change. As you stated, it has something to do with the peripheral vision. If you stare at the eyes, the mouth is not directly viewed. As such, it becomes to take on a life of sorts; it seems to move. I wonder if Da Vinci was aware of that. No doubt he was.