{"id":29006,"date":"2022-10-07T03:30:36","date_gmt":"2022-10-07T10:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=29006"},"modified":"2022-10-10T10:35:33","modified_gmt":"2022-10-10T17:35:33","slug":"a-different-look-at-the-lady-in-the-louvre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/a-different-look-at-the-lady-in-the-louvre\/","title":{"rendered":"A Different Look at the Lady in the Louvre"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Mona Lisa has been credited as the most famous piece of art.\u00a0 How can this be accepted carte blanche? \u00a0One must stop and consider this assertion.\u00a0 How has this one portrait been given this kind of notoriety?\u00a0 If a piece of art has been set apart by so many over a span of 519 years (1503 the piece was finished), can any other work be as well-known or appreciated?\u00a0 Would there be any way of matching the reputation it has gained?\u00a0 This has been a question I have had regarding the Mona Lisa which is on display in Paris, France in the Louvre Museum.<\/p>\n

The artist, Leonardo Da Vinci, did amazing work but how can this portrait of an unknown woman gain uncommon popularity? Isn\u2019t beauty in the eye of the beholder?\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t it be responsible to consider the works of other artists like Monet or Van Gogh?\u00a0 What about artists from other countries or art from a different time?\u00a0 I have enjoyed going to various museums: The Met in New York and the San Francisco DeYoung Museum and The Art Institute in Chicago.\u00a0 These have displayed well known pieces art from famous artists. I have wrestled with my thoughts regarding what has made the Mona Lisa famous and how this art has retained its heralded place in the art world.<\/p>\n

In reading the article Overcoming Barriers to Student Understanding<\/em>, \u201cthreshold concepts\u201d has helped me look at the Mona Lisa with various lens.\u00a0 Meyers describes a threshold concept as a \u201cportal,\u201d an opening up a new and previously inaccessible way of thinking about something.\u201d (1) I have challenged myself to consider what might make a piece of art famous and my own perception of the Mona Lisa.<\/p>\n

Acknowledging my \u201ctroublesome knowledge\u201d was apart of my thinking process. (2)\u00a0 How many times have I looked at the Mona Lisa with a photo shopped face covering the actual image? I believe I have looked at a defaced Mona Lisa too many times and this has been apart of my own devaluation of the art.\u00a0 The Mona Lisa has become like pop art where modern interpretations have been widely accepted.\u00a0 For instance, the Mona Lisa dabbing, the Mona Lisa winking, and the Mona Lisa reinvented by different artists.\u00a0 I can understand how the popularity of the Mona Lisa has made her subject to misuse which has made me reconsider how famous she truly is.\u00a0 I\u2019m left thinking: will the real Mona Lisa stand up?<\/p>\n

In this past week, I was able to visit the Louvre in Paris and stand in front of the Mona Lisa.\u00a0 It was interesting to experience the Mona Lisa in person.\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t call my visit a pilgrimage, but I was eager to learn more about this piece of art.\u00a0 My learning became \u201cintegrative\u201d where what I knew was \u201cexposed by previously hidden interrelatedness of something.\u201d (3) The following were key ingredients in seeing the Mona Lisa differently.<\/p>\n