Why is the Mona Lisa the most hyped painting of all time?

[Goosemaster]

The lock and her smile.

 

[FoBoT]

she is hawt!

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
The answer is......why her? People paint things like beautiful landscapes or symbolic things like vases and whatnot. But why would Da Vinci who is one of the most gifted people of all time paint a portrait of her and why with that expression.



I think. Hell I don't know either.

I don't know the story, but it's likely that she or someone was willing to pay for it.

 

[LegendKiller]

Probably because he used methods that most artists never master and painted something few could ever get close to?

 

[SVT Cobra]

Good discussion, can anybody confirm the eyes thing?

 

[b0mbrman]

Originally posted by: sandorski

Originally posted by: Pacfanweb

Originally posted by: sandorski
It's a great painting.

What's great about it?

Look at it! 😛 😀

Better answer would have been, "Well, if you don't know, you're obviously not cultured enough to understand :roll:"

or "I guess it went right over your head...maybe if it had some explosions in it, you'd get it :roll:"

or "Americans :roll:"

😛

 

[b0mbrman]

Originally posted by: Paddington
I used to think that the great paintings were all painted a long time ago, and that modern artists devote themselves to comic books, advertising, and the like.

I was in London at the National Portrait Gallery. They have a competition each year for portraits, and I saw the gallery. Some of them were pretty amazing, almost photo realistic. They make the Mona Lisa look like it was drawn by school children, at least in terms of technical quality.

Now that's the thing. Technical quality (eg photo realism) has never been the primary criterion in hype/artistic merit/critical acclaim.

 

[grrl]

Originally posted by: Paddington
I used to think that the great paintings were all painted a long time ago, and that modern artists devote themselves to comic books, advertising, and the like.

I was in London at the National Portrait Gallery. They have a competition each year for portraits, and I saw the gallery. Some of them were pretty amazing, almost photo realistic. They make the Mona Lisa look like it was drawn by school children, at least in terms of technical quality.

As for the Mona Lisa's fame, it's just hype feeding more hype. It's good, but how do you judge art? It's clearly better made than a lot of portraits, but is it the best? There are no definite answers to those questions, but what is definite is that a lot of rich people and famous galleries would love to have that painting, and the hype just feeds itself.

Your definition of great is a bit limited. Artistry isn't just about "technical quality" - however you are defining that or photographic realism. A work's greatness is also judged by the time a work is made and how it fit or didn't fit into the conventions, techniques, subjects, etc. of its time.

 

[b0mbrman]

Originally posted by: F22 Raptor
Good discussion, can anybody confirm the eyes thing?

Any 3-dimensional portrait on a 2-dimensional canvas will have the same effect.

 

[A5]

Originally posted by: Syringer
Who knows. I was at the Louvre and everyone was about to ejaculate looking at it. I was much more impressed by 90% of the other paintings in there than the Mona Lisa..

Agreed. Liberty Leading the People FTW.

 

[LostWanderer]

I'm no art expert and call me crazy, but I think it's all in the name. It's simple, easy to pronounce, easy to remember, and easy to place with the painting. The name is kinda catchy, so I guess it's popular whether you like the look of it or not...

 

[ed21x]

it had its own unique style at that time. Those smooth hands, that awesome shading, and weird eyes. hmm... also, Da Vinci did it, so anything that he touches is gold 😛