How much is the Mona Lisa worth? Well, it's recognised in the Guinness Book of Records as having the most expensive insurance policy in history, valued at $100 million in 1962, equivalent to $650 million in 2018. But, as the French aren't selling, it's literally priceless.
The Mona Lisa is one of the most valuable paintings in the world. It holds the Guinness World Record for the highest known painting insurance valuation in history at US$100 million in 1962 (equivalent to $870 million in 2021).
The Mona Lisa is currently valued at over $908 million, adjusted for inflation.
Guinness World Records lists Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa as having the highest ever insurance value for a painting. On permanent display at the Louvre in Paris, the Mona Lisa was assessed at US$100 million on December 14, 1962. Taking inflation into account, the 1962 value would be around US$900 million in 2021.
Truly priceless, the painting cannot be bought or sold according to French heritage law. As part of the Louvre collection, "Mona Lisa" belongs to the public, and by popular agreement, their hearts belong to her.
The Mona Lisa has been stolen once but has been vandalized many times. It was stolen on 21 August 1911 by an Italian Louvre employee who was driven to...
According to French heritage laws, the painting is considered priceless, therefore its sale or purchase cannot be permitted. It is true that “Mona Lisa” is part of the Louvre collection, as it belongs to the public and their hearts belong to her; by any popular estimate, her art should be theirs.
Because it was the fashion in the Renaissance to shave them. Women shaved their facial hair, including their eyebrows, then. Leonardo was an Italian, but he sold the painting to the king of France. Today, it is in the Louvre Museum in Paris.
Somewhere in Saudi Arabia, hidden away by order of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, is the world's most expensive painting, Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi. Or is it? No one in the art world knows for sure where the painting is.
At an auction held at Christie's New York in 2016 during a contemporary art event, Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci turned into the most expensive painting ever sold, selling for $450 million at the end of a nineteen-minute bidding war.
The Mona Lisa hangs behind bulletproof glass in a gallery of the Louvre Museum in Paris, where it has been a part of the museum's collection since 1804. It was part of the royal collection before becoming the property of the French people during the Revolution (1787–99).
A painting by Zeng Fanzhi sold for US$23.3 million at a Sotheby's auction on Saturday night in Hong Kong, setting a new record price for a work by an Asian contemporary artist.
The Mona Lisa's fame is the result of many chance circumstances combined with the painting's inherent appeal. There is no doubt that the Mona Lisa is a very good painting. It was highly regarded even as Leonardo worked on it, and his contemporaries copied the then novel three-quarter pose.
1. Portrait of Dr Paul Gachet, $83m, 1990. Portrait of Dr Paul Gachet still holds the record for the most expensive Van Gogh, although it sold as long ago as 1990. At Christie's it fetched $83m, then the highest auction price for a work by any artist.
In October, Richter's 1987 painting Abstraktes Bild (649-2), from the collection of Ronald Perelman, sold for a whopping HKD 214.6 million ($27.6 million) at Sotheby's Hong Kong, minting a new record. It is now the most expensive work by a Western artist ever to sell at an Asian auction.
It has been in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City since 1941, acquired through the Lillie P. Bliss Bequest. Widely regarded as Van Gogh's magnum opus, The Starry Night is one of the most recognizable paintings in Western art.
Leonardo begins painting the Mona Lisa, which he will work on for four years (according to Leonardo da Vinci's biographer, Giorgio Vasari.) Raphael arrives in Florence and visits Leonardo's studio. Leonardo is appointed painter and engineer at the court of Louis XII in France.
An Italian researcher says the key to solving the enigmas of "Mona Lisa"' lies in her eyes. Silvano Vinceti claims he has found the letter "S" in the woman's left eye, the letter "L" in her right eye, and the number "72" under the arched bridge in the backdrop of Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting.
A new study on the Mona Lisa has revealed evidence of a charcoal underdrawing, suggesting for the first time that Leonardo da Vinci used a preparatory sketch to create the famous portrait.
...Mona Lisa's smile
"Everybody's fascinated with the smile," says author Seymour Reit. "Michelangelo was intrigued, called it an ironic smile. Other people have described it as sly, sublime, enticing, mysterious, repellent, witty, scornful, eerie, magnetic, sensual, remote, all wise and ice cold.
You can own a museum-quality handmade art reproduction of "The Starry Night" by artist Vincent van Gogh in 1889. The oil painting will be reproduced on artist-level linen canvas by an expert painter. You can select from multiple sizing options and top quality frames. It is fully customizable.
Although the Mona Lisa currently resides in the Louvre Museum in France, the painting has never been insured as it is considered priceless. Despite not being insured, the painting was once stolen in 1911 by an employee of the Louvre, Vincenzo Peruggia who carried the painting out under his smock .
The Mona Lisa is made up of approximately twenty light layers of paint, some of which are extremely thin. As a result of this meticulous work, the surface of the painting shows absolutely no trace of brush strokes. Despite its epic age, the Mona Lisa is rather well preserved.