On January 2nd I spent at the day at the Louvre Museum in Paris.
It was my 4th time there (since 1987) and I still haven't seen it all.
One of my favorite things to do at the Louvre, is to watch other people
looking at famous works of art.
There is quite a mob scene in front of the Venus de Milo, but the
jostling crowd in front of the Mona Lisa behaves as if Brad and Angelina
have just arrived on the Red Carpet.
The first time I saw the Mona Lisa (arguably, the most famous painting in the world)
was in 1987.
It was my first time in Paris, and I was staying at a globetrotting
friend's empty apartment for two days.
This was the same friend who lived across the street from my flat in
Hong Kong, and who now lives down the road from my in-laws on Oahu.
Small world.
Anyway, every time I visit the Louvre and make my pilgrimage to the
Court of Madame Lisa, I think of how lucky I was the first time I saw
her.
She was already protected behind bullet-proof glass, but she resided in a
smallish dark red room.
It was near the end of the day, and we were the only people standing in
the room.
There was a velvet rope in front of her, so you had to stand a couple
feet away from the wall, but there was no guard hovering anxiously.
I had a moment with the Master …
a private moment when I could examine the painting and think about
DaVinci's artistic process….
Today it is difficult to get close to the Mona Lisa.
There is a thick curving wooden rail that draws a seven-foot wide
perimeter out from the painting, and then another several feet out,
there is a long velvet rope that holds the bumping craning excited crowd
at a curmudgeonly distance.
Considering the value of the painting, it is a wonder they let people
get within 10-12 feet of the enigmatic smile.
As I stood with a docent behind the unruly crowd, I heard someone ask, "Why is she so famous?".
The docent shrugged and smiled.
"She is famous for being famous, like one of your celebrities.
Nobody really knows why these days."
Dan Brown was not the first person to bring forth the idea of secret codes in DaVinci's artworks.
There are scholars who have spent their whole lives interpreting the symbols they believe they've found, especially since the high resolution scans of the painting.
The painting is truly priceless, but has also been valued over $700 million.
DaVinci purportedly carried around the 21" x 30" painting for 15 years, working and reworking, refining and treasuring Mona.
After his death, she went on to reside at
Fountainebleu Palace and Versailles, in Napoleon's bedroom, and later
was stolen by an Italian patriot who tried to sell the painting to the
Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
Pablo Picasso was on the original list of suspects questioned and
jailed for the theft!
Today she's a rock star, and her most ardent fans push and shove to
stand behind the velvet rope, so they can take photos of the mysterious
lady with their glowing smart phones.
(see my Louvre photos on my Flickr page)
In the quilting world, as in fine arts, there are quilts that achieve celebrity status…as famous as their makers and often more recognizable.
When I see an admiring crowd clustered around the top winning quilt in Houston, I think of Mona Lisa and the magic of her transcendent smile.
