The Mona Lisa Essay

Lindsey Knebel
Aesthetic Expressions
September 18, 2012

Leonardo Da Vinci is one of the world’s greatest men to have ever walked this very earth. He was known as a renaissance man, he was a scientist, artist, architect, musician, inventor, writer, and many other things. He is thought to be one of the greatest painters of all time. Like other painters and musicians, his work was not as famous back then as it is today. I know for a fact that you learn about Da Vinci from a very young age. I remember learning about him in elementary school. Da Vinci has a lot of paintings and sculptures around the world that are extremely famous like: The Last Supper and the Vitruvian Man. His most famous painting is still being looked and reviewed today, The Mona Lisa. The Mona Lisa is an exquisite piece of art to almost everyone in the world. The painting is only about the size of a single sheet of paper, but has been blown up to various of sizes. One of the reasons as to why it is so famous I think is because of all the mystery behind it. There are all these theories to the painting that everyone is unsure of, and all these questions to be answered. Maybe he painted himself as a girl. Why are does she not have any eyebrows or eye lashes? Is the Mona Lisa actually Giorgio Vasari? Who was the wife of a wealthy Florentine in the mid-16th century? All these questions and theories are out there but no one will or tends to know the true meaning behind the painting. I think the woman in the Mona Lisa is really beautiful. She is dressed in the Florentine fashion of her day and seated in a visionary mountainous landscape. Her enigmatic expression, seems both alluring and aloof, has given the viewers the portrait universal fame. Color has a lot to do when trying to figure out a piece of arts meaning. In the Mona Lisa the coloring is very dull and light. The main color that sticks out is green and you also see brown. Green symbolizes many different things. For one thing it is the meaning of balance and nature. In the painting she is position outside in the mountains. Another meaning of green is fertility to represent herself as a woman. Brown is also associated with the color green, it means earth and maternity. For all we know of she could have been pregnant (the blanket is covering up her stomach).
In the Mona Lisa there is an Asymmetrical balance in the background of the painting. It seems as if the life side has more detail than the right making it uneven. The emphasis is this painting is point blank her face. It is the first thing you notice, it is a different color than the rest of the painting and it gives you the most mystery. There is definitely unity in this painting. The background and she come together so beautifully you wouldn’t be able to consider a better setting or person. I think the color has a lot to do with having unity in this painting.
Mimetic theory of art refers to art that is made to represent some concrete, specific, extra-artistic subject matter. Say for example if you see an apple and you draw that exact apple, it’s mimetic. Mimetic is when you draw reality as it is shown or your own imitation of it. For the Mona Lisa I feel as the mimetic theory takes part here in some way. If you were to look at this painting with no knowledge of the painting or theories you would think it was a self portrait of a woman. In the sense that Da Vinci painted this of himself it would be considered mimetic as well because it is his interpretation of himself.
Another theory is known as instrumental theory. Instrumental theory of aesthetics is based on the belief that art should do something worthwhile for the community that produces it, it should serve as a tool (instrument) for human betterment. I feel that instrumental theory takes part in the Mona Lisa in present day than it did before. It seems as if this painting is more appreciate and helps the community because it is a tourist spot for the community. The emotionalist

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