“Mona Lisa” is promised her own room. The Louvre says the painting is “poorly positioned”

ADVERTISING

This painting is the most famous and most visited work of art in the world: up to 10 million people a year come to Paris to look at the Mona Lisa. To see Leonardo’s masterpiece, a Louvre guest stands in line for about two hours. Many later admit that it was not worth it. Why?

30 seconds for a masterpiece

When weary art lovers finally get to the hall where the Mona Lisa hangs, they discover that it is not really visible – the small canvas hangs behind a barrier and a protective glass panel. Vincent Deleuvin, the Louvre’s chief curator of 16th-century Italian painting, said that in the great hall, “the Mona Lisa looks like a postage stamp.” According to the expert, this goes against the idea of ​​the painting’s author: “Leonardo da Vinci wanted to establish a personal relationship between the painting and the person looking at it,” he says.

The Louvre workers have no doubt that the portrait must be protected. The Mona Lisa was attacked more than once; paint was doused on it, soup was thrown at it, cake was thrown at it… Due to security measures, disciplined museum visitors can look at the painting for no more than 30 seconds, besides overcoming the obstacle of the hands and heads of other tourists, taking selfies. In half a minute, the curators of the hall will take you out to see the portraits of other people.

The Louvre directorate came to the conclusion that the portrait needed to be re-hanged.

Including out of respect for the painting that hangs opposite, and this is “Marriage in Cana of Galilee” by Veronese. Striving for the Mona Lisa, museum visitors completely ignore the painting by one of the greatest masters of the Venetian school, turning their backs to it.

Expensive moving

“Moving the Mona Lisa to a separate room could end the disappointment and overwork of the public,” says museum director Laurence de Cars. True, the move will require significant renovation work, including the opening of a new entrance to the Louvre and the formation of two halls in the basement – directly under the square courtyard of the museum. One of them, according to the plan, will become the new home of the Mona Lisa: visitors will be able to go to it directly, which will reduce queues at the Louvre.

The cost of the project is impressive: it will take up to half a billion euros to house Leonardo’s masterpiece with comfort and proper precautions. The French Ministry of Culture reportedly supports the Louvre’s initiative; it remains to convince Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire. He has previously said he hopes to save €25 billion in the 2025 budget as he calls on the culture sector to tighten its belt.

Additional sources • Le Figaro