The Mona Lisa

The Mona Lisa is one of the most popular and well known paintings of all time. Robert Hues an art critic has also realized that the piece of work done by Leonardo Da vinci, has been deprived of meaning and has been turned into celebrity artwork. In 1962 the Mona Lisa left France ( it is currently owned by the French Government and is held in The Louvre in Paris), when it reached The United States it was greeted by a large press and current president of the time John F Kennedy and his wife Jackie. The movement of the Mona Lisa to the US created new expectations for act and moved the idea of art from appreciation of artwork to consumerism. Thousands of people came to see the Mona Lisa while it was in the US, but not to look at the artwork, but just to have said they have seen it.

For my 16th birthday instead of having a sweet sixteen I decided I would rather go to Paris for a week. When deciding what I wanted to do during the week, of course I wanted to experience Parisian cuisine and culture and see the Moulan Rouge, but what i wanted to do the most was go to museums and see the history of art and view the famous "Mona Lisa." When thinking about Paris the first two things that comes to my mind are the Eiffel Tower, and the Mona Lisa, so i was ecstatic to see both. When stepping into The Louvre my anticipation was building and the first piece of art I wanted to see was this painting I have heard so much about. There was a crowd of people around the painting and as I made my way to the front there was a barrier to prevent you from getting too close to the painting as well as shatter proof glass in front of the painting, and two guards standing side by side the painting. I was disappointed. I didn't realize in the past until seeing the painting how small it was, and since we couldn't get very close to it, it was hard to get a good look at the painting. Instead of being marveled by this Renaissance painting I was let down and looked at the painting no more than 30 seconds before moving on. I was saddened about how before even getting the look at the painting there was so much protection keeping me from actually seeing the painting (I know it has to be done).