This is just a very short essay that I wrote about the famous painting, the “Mona Lisa”. I watched the move “Mona Lisa Smile” and was inspired to write this after listening to one of the lines. It’s not my very best, work, but I’m still proud of it and would appreciate !

Mona Lisa
An essay
Written on: 8/24/06

She’s smiling. But is she happy? She looks happy. But does that really matter? The Mona Lisa is said to be smiling in an enigmatic manner. But what does ‘enigmatic’ mean? Glum? Discontent? Melancholy? Is it unhappy? The dictionary says that the word ‘enigmatic’ means puzzling. Obscure. Mysterious.

The Mona Lisa was painted hundreds of years ago by Leonardo da Vinci. One of the greatest artists of all time. We know so much about his life. We know that he studied anatomy. That he invented wondrous machines far beyond his time. That he understood the effect that the stroke of a brush could have on a painting. And yet we know so little about his most famous painting. We do not even know if this Mona Lisa was an actual person, or simply a figment of his imagination.

In an effort to learn more of this enigma, shall we say, scientists actually x-rayed this masterpiece. And they found earlier versions underneath the picture we see today. They were obviously all of the same woman, but done, I’d like to believe, with different views. It seems that at first he paints her in a rather joyful manner. As a woman who has everything. Who wants for nothing. And angel is what he sees at first glance. This is the mask he creates; and expands to encompass her whole being, only to find that he is wrong.

In this second version, his subject is not happy. But neither is she unhappy. Perhaps the right word for it is content. Like an onion, and any person, this mysterious figure has many layers. But this is only the second level Leonardo has broken through too. And as a content woman, perhaps he characterizes her as grateful. Now that he has broken through his illusions of perfection, he sees that she does not, in fact, have everything. Maybe he sees her as grateful for what she has, feels lucky that she has it, but does indeed yearn for more.

The picture we see today is the last version of the Mona Lisa. The third “mask” of her soul is puzzling. Ambiguous. In this we see that Leonardo has found another of her levels. This one he doesn’t quite understand. This one he finds completes his subject more, but also complicates her, makes her harder to put in a neat little box in his mind. Had Leonardo continued to live, would he have continued to discover, and therefore paint, more of this woman? I believe so, yes. And I also believe that with each level, she would become even more complete. Whole in a totally instinctual way.

And she, the Mona Lisa, would become more beautiful. Not beautiful in the way of models with perfect lips, and eyes, and hair. Beautiful in a way that is so brutally honest that it appeals to us all. Beautiful in the way that she is not afraid to reveal her faults and her different levels to someone who is wise enough to uncover them so carefully. Each new level is accompanied by a new fault. A new dream.

And so it continues until there is nothing left and her entire soul is bared. And each level is apart of her. Even that first version, the one with the too happy smile and pretty eyes, is part of her too. Not just a mask, but a sliver of her essence. So tell me, is she happy?

AN – On a side note, I later found out that scientists believe that the Mona Lisa, whoever she was, was pregnant, or had just given birth. When they created a 3D image of her, they discovered a thin shawl over her shoulders that pregnant Italian women wore at the time of da Vinci’s life.

So, feedback?