Not just a meme, but a masterpiece – why the Mona Lisa earns its exalted place in art

Ceaselessly flocked by tourists at the Louvre Museum in Paris, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa (1503-17) is perhaps the world’s most recognisable work of art.

by James Payne

https://aeon.co/videos/not-just-a-meme-but-a-masterpiece-why-the-mona-lisa-earns-its-exalted-place-in-art?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=262f4f59e7-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2026_04_16&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-4ef8a26106-72664972

Monsa Lisa at PG: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subject/25659

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