Bonjour. I am Mona Lisa, the world famous and priceless painting ever made .I am a resident of Louvre museum Paris. No amount of adjectives are enough to describe me. You might think I am pompous, but all the credit goes to my creator, the renowned painter Mr. Leonardo Da Vinci. I am the painting of Lisa Gherardini, wife of the silk merchant. Mr. Da Vinci took six years to complete me, as it is rightly said “good things come to those who wait”.
Though now I hold the Guinness world record for the highest insurance valuation in history, there was a time in my life, when I had a very normal life like any other painting. I still remember the days, when I used to sit in the bottom rack stacked with other paintings. Nobody paid much attention to me, I sat there all day, occasionally spoke with the paintings beside me.
August 21, 1911 dawned like any other Monday morning; I didn’t expect any excitement in my boring life. All of a sudden I felt a jolt, somebody was lifting me. I woke up and saw three men snatching me from the hooks and carried me outside the museum. Since they had wrapped me in a blanket, I couldn’t enjoy my impromptu outing. Later they stashed me at the bottom of a dark closet. I was unaware that my sudden disappearance from the museum had caused such a furore and I became a sensation overnight .The officials recovered me after 28 months, when the thief who stole me tried to sell me. If I say it was the turning point of my life, it would be an understatement. I was brought back to my home with a lot of fanfare.
I am not the invisible wallflower anymore. Now I hang majestically on my very own wall behind double bullet proof glass. People call me ethereal, enigmatic and mysterious, it may be due to my barely there smile, illusionistic eyes and absence of my eyebrows. Though I enjoy the attention and adulation all day, I get tired at times by always smiling. But when people from every corner of the world come to see me it energizes me immediately. I have one unfulfilled wish. Though I am a celebrity, I can’t dress like one .But that problem is also solved by my fans. If you Google me, you will find various avatars of me, created by my ardent fans, in one I flaunt a beautiful Indian attire while in other I wear t-shirt and jeans. Though I haven’t attended a single Halloween party, I have been dressed like a Rockstar, Egyptian pharaoh, artist, military officer, chef and what not .You name it and I have it.
People have many theories about me. I am considered to be one of the biggest mysteries. Some believe that I have hidden codes while others think that I resemble Leonardo Da Vinci. Many scientists have scanned me and claim to find a different painting under me. Can you believe this; one person had the audacity to say that I have high cholesterol.
You might think what is so special about me. Let me fill it in for you from the art point of view, I am painted using the sfumato technique which means the smooth transitions between colors. As many famous paintings have been reproduced by artists all over the world, I too have been reproduced by various artists but nobody could bring that perfection. I remain a challenge for all artists.
There is a saying that, whatever happens, happens for good. Being stolen and found back made me who I am today.
Au Revoir :)
