10 Postmodern Appearances of The Mona Lisa: Classic Subject Resurfaces in Urban Street Artworks

Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa has taken to the streets, appearing in urban graffiti murals around the world.

Da Vinci’s painting of the young woman has raised many questions over the years, such as, “Who was she?” and “What was she smiling about?” The mystery of the painting has inspired many artists duplicate Da Vinci’s masterpiece in many mediums.

Mona Lisa Graffiti Art

The first picture shown here, a stenciled work depicting Mona in red, with a star on a necklace and a bottle in her hand, appeared in Russia. As with all graffiti, the interpretation of the piece is left up to the viewer. However, the red coloring and the star may be linked to the artist’s views on communism, as these are well-known symbols for the political system.

Mona has also appeared on a wall in Portugal, in another stencilled piece. Although the artwork carries no symbolic content, it may have been produced out of appreciation for Da Vinci’s work.

The whereabouts of the following piece is unsure. This graffiti displays two separate styles, and it is thought that the eyes, nose and mouth were painted by a different artist to the one who painted the ears, hair, shoulders and wings.

In a controversial piece by Banksy, appearing in England; Mona is depicted bending over and lifting up her skirt. This piece has been considered offensive by some, but as with a lot of graffiti art the artist challenges common public beliefs, in this case, the belief that the Mona Lisa figure is chaste and pure.

This artwork, in Porto, Portugal, shows Mona in a baseball cap and related attire. Perhaps a symbol of national pride?

This stencilled piece appeared overnight, in Cardiff, England, before being painted over the next day. The art work takes on several dimensions, as we are presented with a stencilled graffiti art work, depicting a graffiti artist at work, creating a fan art work of the famous painting, the Mona Lisa.

This street art painting of the Mona Lisa, in New York, USA, may not be in existence anymore, as it was created at a construction site, and the area was in the process of being demolished when the photo was taken.

A stenciled artwork, in Bergen, Norway, shows Mona holding a brush and painting over herself. The artist, Dolk, called this piece “The Last Mona”. The motives of this piece are questionable. Is the artist stating that the Mona Lisa as a subject in modern art is no longer creative? Or perhaps that if Mona were alive today, she would not wish to be the focus of so much public scrutiny. The viewer must interpret the work for themselves.

Mona has appeared in London, in what seems to be a politically motivated artwork by the stencil artist Banksy. She is shown wielding a deadly weapon, yet still has her notably mysterious smile.

Many paintings gain popularity and then fall from the public eye. Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa has been an inspirational force for many artists, and it seems that she lives on, gaining immortality through the works of others, and always with her mysterious smile. The popularity of her image outlives the lifespan of the artworks in which she is depicted, as they are often destroyed during renovations or painted over.

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Artworks Whose Eyes Follow You Around the Room

Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa painting is famed for having eyes that follow you around the room. The principles used in da Vinci’s paintings can also be applied to sculpture or paper-folding to create a hollow face illusion.


Hollow Face Illusions Videos:

These videos show a variety of hollow face illusions at work. As the camera operators move around the sculptures, the faces (sometimes just the eyes) turn to watch the viewer.

This sculpture is an artist’s rendition of St Francis. Though small, the bust of St Francis is an interesting piece, as no matter where you are in the room, St Francis has his eyes on you.

Even when rendered in 3D animation software, the hollow face illusion still has an essence of magic. The eye is tricked into believing that the heads are turning as the 3D model rotates.

How it Works:

Hollow face illusions are exactly what their name implies. The artist sculpts, carves or in the case of paper or origami art, folds the material to form a “hollow” face. The human eye is trained to see a face as being convex (bulging towards the viewer), that it naturally mistakes a concave face (bulging away from the viewer) as being convex. Small sculptures can be rotated horizontally and vertically to create the impression that the head displayed is turning from side to side or up and down. For large sculptures, the viewer can move around the sculpture, marveling at the supposed manner in which the face turns to follow the viewer around the room.

The face on the left is convex, and the face on the right is concave. From this angle, with the light coming from above, the illusion is easily broken.

Because the light source is apparent; the illusion created by this Buddha hollow face illusion is strong. The contrasting colors between raised and indented surfaces adds to the illusion.

This image of Einstein appears to be popping out of the background, but is it, really?

Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa

The theories used in hollow face illusions and by da Vinci for the “Mona Lisa” are similar, but not exactly the same. Instead of creating a hollow face for Mona, da Vinci used perspective, contrast, shadows and shape to create the illusion that the Mona Lisa’s eyes turn to follow the viewer around the room. Da Vinci created a sketch called Proportions of the Face, which he used as a base for the proportions of the Mona Lisa’s face. The proportions created by da Vinci are based on the same mathematical principles as hollow face illusions, and create a similar effect.

The Mona Lisa is a famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci that uses the hollow face illusion technique to make her eyes follow you around the room. [source]

Above are the working stages of the Mona Lisa painting, showing how da Vinci incorporated his sketch, Proportions of the Face, into the final Mona Lisa masterpiece. The reason why Mona Lisa's eyes seem to follow you around the room is a combination of light and shadows in the piece and layers upon layer of paint that give the painting a slight 3-Dimensional effect.


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