Mona Lisa

What you are looking at

A woman sits with her hands folded, turned three quarters toward us, in front of a hazy, imaginary landscape of winding roads, a bridge and water. Leonardo softened every edge with fine layers of glaze, a technique called sfumato, so the corners of her mouth and eyes melt into shadow. That is why her smile seems to come and go as you look.

Why it is famous

The sitter is generally identified as Lisa Gherardini, the wife of the Florentine silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo, which is why the painting is also called La Gioconda in Italian and La Joconde in French. Leonardo kept it with him for years and took it to France, where it passed into the French royal collection. Its celebrity grew enormously after it was stolen from the Louvre in 1911; the thief, Vincenzo Peruggia, was caught in Florence in 1913 and the painting went back to Paris.

How big is Mona Lisa?

Mona Lisa measures 79.4 × 53.4 cm (31.3 × 21.0 in), without its frame. It is about the size of a small window or a large poster, and smaller than most visitors expect.

Compare it with other paintings

Where to see it

It hangs behind protective glass in the Salle des États, one of the largest rooms in the Louvre. Expect a long, managed queue in front of it, and expect it to look smaller than you imagine.

Museums move and lend paintings. Check the museum's website before you travel to see one work. See all famous paintings in Paris.

More by Leonardo da Vinci

Ginevra de' BenciLeonardo da Vinci, c. 1474 to 1478 Washington, DCLady with an ErmineLeonardo da Vinci, c. 1490 KrakówVitruvian ManLeonardo da Vinci, c. 1490 VeniceThe Last SupperLeonardo da Vinci, c. 1495 to 1498 MilanSalvator MundiLeonardo da Vinci, c. 1500 Private collection

All Leonardo da Vinci paintings

Also at the Musée du Louvre

The Oath of the HoratiiJacques-Louis David, 1784 to 1785 ParisGrande OdalisqueJean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, 1814 ParisThe Raft of the MedusaThéodore Géricault, 1818 to 1819 ParisLiberty Leading the PeopleEugène Delacroix, 1830 Paris

Sources: Wikidata Q12418; Wikipedia, "Mona Lisa". Checked October 17, 2026. How we check.