Category: Blog Posts

What Does a Data Analyst Do At A Museum?

Unknown to many, there is a strong correlation between museums and data. Like other enterprises, museums are financially-driven organizations that need to collect and analyze data to determine revenue earned and enhance customer experience. Why do museums need data analysts?

Museums need data analysts because they serve vital roles that ensure the effective running of their digital platforms. Data analysts identify trend patterns, analyze and synthesize data to enhance the relevance of museums to modern audiences. Data analysts are valuable to the art industry because they attract more clients and solve financial crises.

I will clarify the association between art and data. The modern world is data-driven, and for industries to thrive, they must be willing to adjust and adapt to the rapidly changing times. Yet this may not be easy, hence the need for data analysts in art repositories.

Why is Data Valuable to Museums?

Prominent museums are enriched with cultural diversity and need data analytics to respond to new audience trends. People do not recognize museums as complex organizations, yet they are competitive, financially and mission-driven, and aim to achieve specific goals.

I perceive that there is no clear association between data and visitor attractions. But museums rely on data analytics to determine the best way to serve their clients. The most significant difference between museums and other organizations dependent on data analysis is that archives are considered public establishments and not profit-driven.

Currently, museums are facing external pressure to meet the needs of young generations. Therefore, analytics and applied data are handy for museums because they help steer the unknown future.

What Type of Data Collection Processes Can Museums Use?

Data analysts help museums understand visitors’ behavior by collecting certain information. For instance, a museum can establish whether local and international tourists exhibit similar behavior, get more works and visitors online, and the target audience segments most attracted to specific collections.

Electronic tracking is an ideal way to collect and analyze data; it helps determine visitors’ expenditure, track clients’ movements while in the museum, and the number of people passing through particular doors. However, data analysts must obtain consent from their visitors to not count as a breach of privacy.

Data analysts use numerous data collection methods like indoor location tracking, surveys, social media profiling, Google analytics, and polls. Many data analysts prefer digital means like Google analytics which are easier to use.

Through Google analytics, museums can obtain various information like their potential customers’ sex, age, location, and demographics. Social media platforms effectively establish how much time users spend on a museum’s site and the pages visited more often.

What Are Museums Like In the Age of Big Data?

Today, many museums are open-minded to digitally converting their assemblage and availing themselves of research. Data projects are not common, and this is quite disadvantageous.

Museums have a big responsibility to enhance client loyalty given the COVID-19 pandemic that limits people’s needs. What makes a museum outstanding and attractive to the public? The seizing of digital data enhances unique customer experiences, loyalty, and satisfaction.

Most museums use data to avail vital information to the public, but most do not realize they can use it to understand their audience. Museums can easily contact clients and inquire about their experiences because clients have varying expectations.

What Impact Does Data Analytics Have on Museums?

From my perspective, data analytics is mandatory in museums. When most individuals go to museums, they never exhibit interest in the works they see; instead, they aim to skim through every piece available in the repository. Museums need to be more unorthodox by spending more money and time to elevate visitors’ interest and engagement.

Data-driven decision-making is often valuable since it gives a museum a high competitive edge- this means that museums should embrace data analytics to fulfill their responsibility to the public. It is awry for a few individuals to have a genuine interest in museums because they are public enterprises. Data-driven metrics help inform the mission and goals of museums.

Hiring a data analyst can be quite costly, but applied data is handy in formulating policies and project implementations. The good news is that today, data is easily accessible through attendance records, Google analytics, and financial information.

Raw data is useless and must be processed to reveal helpful information. Data analytics might be costly, but it is worth it because it is the basis of practical insights in all organizations today.

What Do Data Analysts Do?

Data analysts collect and interpret data to solve problems or enhance organizations’ performances. They work in governmental organizations, criminal justice, art, science, business, and medicine.

Data analysis involves identifying appropriate data, collecting and cleaning it in preparation for research, scrutiny, and finally, interpretation.

Data analysts use numerous tools like Microsoft Power BI, SAS, Google sheets, Microsoft excel, python, SQL, and tableau. The technical skills data analysts must have include data visualizations, programming languages, math, statistics, and database tools.

Data analysts working in museums must have specific workplace skills like industry knowledge, communication, and problem-solving. If you are interested in becoming a data analyst at a museum, you must learn about the industry to familiarize yourself with current trends and issues. Critical thinking and speaking skills will give you an upper hand.

What Do Data Analysts Do At A Museum?

Data analysts determine museum market success through solving data crises and making museums more relevant to new audiences. Most museums rely on anecdotes to decide events and programs, yet this should not be the case.

Some museums lack the financial resources and professional development necessary for accreditation. Most people employed in museums lack the knowledge and morale to collect, analyze and interpret data hence the rising need for data analysts.

The use of personal anecdotes in making decisions is quite unpredictable because technology is rapidly changing the industry. Museum professionals cannot evade using digital operation tools in enhancing sustainability. Data analysts help understand, change and evaluate organizational practices with minimal or no risks.

Why do the millennials and individuals of generation Z exhibit tremendously low interest in going to museums? This age group entails a massive percentage of the world’s population. Thus, they should be the museum’s target audience. If young people lose interest in museums, the chances are that the generations to come will manifest the same behavior.

Museums should hire data analysts to enhance inclusivity and vibrancy in art repositories. Since most museums employ staff that are not well trained on data analysis, they should consider hiring professionals or training their staff on data logic and analysis.

Today, only eminent museums hire professional data analysts because the budget for hiring these individuals is relatively high. Examples include the Smithsonian museum, which has an internal team of data analysts to interpret visitors’ data. The British Museum uses Microsoft data scientists to mold client experiences.

Prominent museums have access to more resources than small museums; thus, they are highly likely to benefit from data-driven decision-making. Through research on data analytics, data analysts can evaluate audience engagement, sales development, and ticketing, hence organizational success.

Museum funders are now demanding evidence of organizational impact on the public. How can measurable results be achieved? Relevant museums have professionals who use digital data evidence that helps determine social impact.

It is vital to evaluate the influence of museums on the community to gain funding from NGOs and governmental foundations.

What are the Responsibilities of Data Analysts in Museums?

• Conducting user research and utilizing it to improve the existing organizational practices; for instance, by developing solutions for problems discerned, they can find out why some works receive more attention than others.
• Developing data analytics programs and suggesting new projects to be enacted to elevate user experience and high revenue
• Using mobile technologies to establish the needs of the target audience and the trends in behavioral change
• Training internal stakeholders on how to collect and analyze data in small museums that may not afford to employ many data analysts
• Coming up with continual reports on critical digital metrics and presenting them to firm managers, and other senior personnel
• Analyzing implemented projects to determine their impact on a museum
• Serving as organization referencing sources for data analysis and implementation
• Researching on possible development or enhancement of new projects and channels
• Establishing the effect of digitization on user behavior

How Do Data Analysts Make Use of Data to Enhance Client Experiences and Boost Organizational Earnings?

The biggest obstacle museums face today is using and expanding data analytic tools with little money and time. The solution entails incorporating external data sets like geographic, demographic, and psychographic information, enabling museums to pay dividends without necessarily relying on consultation or staff.

Data analytics enable museums to communicate with their audience. Some museums do not engage in systematic qualitative analysis. They should rely on data and its potential to influence anecdotal inferences. Data visualization is essential in communicating insights, therefore building museums’ strength in logical reasoning. 

Museums must practice data analytics- it does not necessarily need to be perfect. Most organizations believe in perfection, yet this leads to delays which might do away with the value of expenditure in analytics.

All museum organizations can use data because it is easily accessible. There is vast information on past events and current happenings that help organizational management understand how contemporary art repositories work. I believe applied data can change the museum industry for the better good.

Museums can use numerous digital devices to collect data on client preferences, including audio guides, mobile applications, and touch screens.

Audio guides are sources of audible information on visitors’ progress. They help reconstruct customers’ routes, and the analysis of the data collected is useful in determining the information most consumed and the works that spark the most attention.

Mobile applications are also handy in monitoring the flow of visitors in museums. Data analysts can discern the most requested exhibits through the apps and ensure clients receive their requests.

Touch screens are a pretty significant source of data because they showcase the screens most visited by clients, the time spent looking for available information on an art piece, and the methods clients use to search on-screen.

Data analysts explore customers’ behavior to know a specific museum’s target audience and develop a good loyalty strategy to enhance clients’ trust and allegiance.

Are there Museums that Have Benefited From Informed Decision Making?

Many prominent museums formulate their strategies depending on the information conveyed by their data analysts. These evidence-based scenarios demonstrate the essence of applied data in the valorization of museums;

• The Fenimore Museum of art in Cooperstown, New York, could not discern the relationship between ticket sales and media advertisement. The solution was to compare the postal codes of sold tickets with geographic ads through data analytics. The proposed implementation resulted in an increase in the number of clients from locations where radio advertisement of the firm was high.
• The Madrid Reina Sofia National Museum could not understand the visitation trends for some art exhibitions. The finding was that a significant percentage of the visitors were from abroad, mainly first world nations.
• The Chicago Art Institute wanted to increase its revenue by attracting more visitors. It used data analytics to track the visitation of clients and the time they spent at specific exhibitions. The museum chose to promote the galleries with more visitors, thus increasing profits.

How Can You Become A Museum’s Data Analyst?

You should have specific qualifications to be hired as a museum data analyst. They include;

• Bachelor’s degree in any analytical field like Economics and Mathematics
• The technical know-how of navigating social media platforms
• Good communication skills
• Good data visualization skills
• The ability to multitask and willingness to learn
• Good organizational skills
• Ability to understand and interpret large data sets
• High morale and good professional conduct
• Good writing skills  for drafting data analytics reports
• High proficiency in the use of Microsoft Excel, SQL, python, tableau, and Google sheets
• Ability to make good data-informed decisions that enhance organizational success

In closing, I hope you understand why museums need data analysts. If this is your desired career, do not hesitate to send job applications to any museums that may be hiring. A good data analyst is valuable to a firm and receives high compensation for the excellent work done.

References

https://medium.com/museum-tech-trends/5-reasons-for-museum-data-analytics-14b777c12d2a

https://searchbusinessanalytics.techtarget.com/feature/Museums-and-data-A-powerful-combination

https://arenametrix.com/en/marketing-museums/

https://nysmuseums.org/MANYnews/7300085

 

Blockchain technology refers to databases enciphered in blocks that store information electronically. This technology is a substitute for long-established go-betweens to transfer the crypto-currency bitcoin. Is blockchain the future of art?

Blockchain is the future of art since artists utilize it as a medium and subject, thus changing how collectors use art. It also enables artists to track down the sales of their work and control the audience of their exposition. Blockchain was originally a ledger for Bitcoin and would be highly embraced in the future to ease artists’ work.

I will expound on the meaning and various uses of blockchain and whether or not it will survive these rapidly changing times. Many experts believe that blockchain is here to stay, and it will change people’s lives, especially artists because it will restructure the art industry. Others argue that it is uncalled for.

What is Blockchain?

Blockchain is a digital ledger of transactions that is quite impossible to hack. Unlike the traditional ledger, it does not call for a third party to facilitate the exchange of data, money, or anything between people; people deal directly with each other.

Blockchain is becoming highly acceptable in modern society because it is a promising and revolutionary technology that enhances transparency on the internet. The internet harbours different characters like fraudulence, and blockchain does away with this.

Blockchain has structured databases with well-collected information stored in groups called blocks. These blocks have a fixed storage capacity, and newly filled ones can link to previously filled ones, thus forming a blockchain.

Blockchain is primarily used in Bitcoins to ensure that all parties obtain and retain control. Bitcoin transactions are on permanent record since it is impossible to reverse them. Additionally, anyone can access databases, thus minimizing hacking cases.

A Brief History of Blockchain

The notion of blockchain technology can be traced back to 1982 yet; software engineers did not put this theory into practice until 2008. In 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto published Bitcoin, then the following year, the first successful bitcoin transaction took place.

In 2012, bitcoin and blockchain gained recognition in television shows and magazines. In 2013, blockchain could serve other purposes besides bitcoin. In 2015, more than a hundred thousand people accepted bitcoin and the San-Fransisco company tested the trading of shares in private firms.

In 2019, IBM came up with a blockchain banking platform collaborating with prominent organizations like Barclays bank. In 2019, China announced blockchain as its cryptocurrency. In 2020, blockchain helped fight the COVID-19 pandemic by safely storing patient information and research data.

How Does Blockchain Work?

Blockchain prohibits the editing of digital information, yet it allows the recording and distribution of data. Hence, it is ideal for keeping records of transactions without deletion, destruction, and alteration. Blockchain has three components; blocks, nodes, and miners, which serve varying functions.

Blocks

A blockchain has numerous blocks, and each block consists of a nonce, hash, and data. A nonce is a 32-bit whole number produced during the formation of a block. A hash is a tiny 256-bit number amalgamated to the nonce.

A nonce produces a cryptographic hash once a block of a chain generates, and the data recorded becomes permanent except it gets mined.

Miners

Through the mining process, miners generate new blocks for blockchains. All blocks in a blockchain have unique hash and nonce, making mining blocks a tedious or nearly impossible activity. The successful mining of a block entails the acceptance of all nodes by the network.

Nodes

No individual or organization owns blockchains. It decentralizes via nodes. Nodes are devices that store copies of blockchains and enhance the running of networks.

Each node is different because they have varying copies of the blockchain. For a node to maintain a copy of a blockchain, the newly mined block must be updated, verified, and approved by the network. Nodes make it easy for people to check actions in the ledger- they foster transparency in blockchains.

Most people use blockchain to buy and sell bitcoin through nodes. For a miner to get a financial reward, they must complete a new block successfully. After most of the network confirms the block gets permanently secured to previous blocks using a hash, the sale gets processed.

What Do You Need to Know About Blockchain?

The most crucial trait of blockchain is that it applies to other fields- it is not strictly tied to finance. This technology applies to any transaction that calls for visibility and transparency, one of them being art. In the future, there will be numerous practical applications to blockchain use.

Blockchain technology does not engross in public existence. Organizations can use it privately to minimize compliance costs. Hence it is ideal for you if your firm is constantly under pressure to exhibit compliance.

Before you begin mining, you should know that blockchain will have a great future only if there is a concurrence between private and public blockchain. This intersection will enhance the collaboration of suppliers, clients, and business organizations in a verifiable, secure and digital manner.

Is Blockchain the Future of Art?

Databases drive the modern world, meaning blockchain will soon play a significant role in transforming professional and personal lives. Besides trading bitcoins, blockchain plays a vital role in the art field.

What is the Association Between Blockchain and the Art Industry?

Art has always been part of society. Most wealthy individuals love art pieces which they obtain from art auctions. However, today, numerous electronic forgeries of art corrupt provenience records, thus leading to huge losses for artists. Like other sectors, the art industry would benefit tremendously from modernization.

Blockchain technology has a lot of optimistic promises for individual artists and art organizations.  Through it, artists would solve most of the problems they encounter today.

Does Blockchain Have Potential in the Art Industry?

Since blockchain records are permanent, they elevate artworks’ security and prevent fraud. Blockchain promotes legitimacy and egalitarianism. This technology is a stabilizer of the art auctions’ inconsistency.

Blockchain can combat antiquity trade and stolen art by rummaging global and domestic art sales to solve legitimacy issues in the art industry. This aspect is valid because blockchain has proven beneficial in other industries. For instance, it helps track down stolen antiquities by recording their movement in the supply chain.

Art collectors can determine the number of pieces available for sale through blockchain technology, minimizing the chances of getting ripped off. If you are an art collector, this information will help you discern the reasonable price to pay for an art piece. Artists can also minimize the number of copies of a specific artwork to remain unique.

Blockchain would enhance the trust of art collectors because an artist can register original copies, thus making unauthorized copies noticeable and worthless.

What are Blockchain’s Applications in the Art Industry?

Blockchain disseminates art models and selling authorities. Art collectors experience hard times buying an art piece, especially if it has one seller. Blockchain is changing this by allowing people to bid and buy globally from any firm or individual.

The art market is no longer as restricted as it used to be since smart contracts help complete transactions, making it impossible for people to get scammed. Once an individual or organization sells a piece to a client, the original file gets deleted from the sender’s computer.

Blockchain enables you to buy art pieces with cryptocurrency. By using cryptocurrency, one does not have to wait for the bank to authorize their transaction, and they can easily transfer vast amounts of funds to their seller.

Blockchain enhances people’s accessibility to art. Before technology, only a few people in certain nations knew where to find good artwork. But thanks to blockchain, things are pretty different today. Art pieces are digitized and traded on the blockchain. They are visible and purchasable directly from their owner by anyone from any location.

Blockchain has made art affordable to many individuals. Most people fail to realize that they may be purchasing items at highly insane prices because a third party is involved. Any individual can afford to buy an art piece through blockchain because some go for as low as $10. Additionally, people will be sure they buy original work from an artist.

Blockchain technology is inventing online galleries, which are ideal for people unable to go to physical art galleries for reasons best known to them. Through this innovation, you can create a Data Access Object which eases art transactions.

Blockchain enables people to learn about the history of artworks. Since no one can alter blockchain’s ledger, it is pretty impossible to copy art providence fraudulently after publishing an original.

Is Blockchain Expedient to Artists and Art Collectors?

Blockchain has numerous merits to the art sector. It is bound to change artists’ and art collectors’ lives for the better. What are the pros of blockchain to the art trade?

1. Blockchain is bringing equality to the art industry. There was a time when good art was solely associated with multi-millionaires but not anymore. It has broken the monotony of art by doing away with the dominance of art galleries and big auction houses. Today, you and I can easily access and afford artworks we may never have been able to.
2. This technology fosters transparency between art sellers and buyers. Gradually, blockchain ownership records are developing, allowing clients to track down artworks’ history by discerning their legitimacy and previous locations. The records are a valuable reference source because people cannot change them to serve ill intentions.
3. Blockchain promotes authenticity in art auctions. The biggest challenge in the art trade is the incapacity to determine the validity of a work of art. Blockchain technology provides entrenched provenance making it impossible to lower or raise the value of artworks on the grounds of ownership data.
4. It connects artists, thus promoting diversity and enabling access to cheaper material and tools.
5. Blockchain guarantees a buyer intellectual property since people can now store and manage artworks in whichever way they please. This aspect means it guarantees one copyright and minimizes internet art theft.
6. Blockchain helps art collectors remain anonymous if they choose to. If one does not wish to reveal their identity, they can display public data on specific artworks and not personal information.
7. Through buying artworks with cryptocurrencies, the speed of buying and selling increases; hence people do not need to wait too long before transacting.

Are there any Cons of Blockchain to the Art Industry?

Although blockchain has numerous merits to art collectors, some argue that it adversely affects the industry.

1. Blockchain technology will slowly do away with physical art galleries, hindering buyers and sellers from physically meeting. There is a special significance tied to physical art pieces, and now this tradition threatens to become extinct. Art is no longer controlled by artists and art collectors but by technology.
2. Some argue that using blockchain to sell and buy works of art is tedious because it calls for negotiating a barrage of technical jargon and acquiring a digital wallet.
3. Since blockchain is decentralized and lacks authority, who will solve disputes? Even though there are minimal chances of disputes, one can never be too sure. Yet since this technology lacks a central authority, who solves issues? How is this different from the traditional way?
4. Blockchain makes art sellers and buyers dispensable because it holds all vital information; the middleman plays a vital role in judging the value of art pieces and researching provenance.
5. Like other internet mediums, the information on the blockchain is vulnerable to hacking, meaning art collectors should not upload all their databases at once on the platform.  

Is Blockchain Here to Stay?

I believe blockchain is here to stay and will transform many industries just as it is doing in the art sector. This technology is highly likely to offer artists and art collectors control since they can determine who sees their work and whether it should be distributed and reproduced.

Since blockchain enhances the accessibility and affordability of art pieces, it attracts numerous art collectors, thus revolutionizing the art industry. It is a powerful technology that will change people’s lives by transfiguring the publishing industry, music industry, and cinema theatre.

In conclusion, I hope you now understand blockchain technology and its connection to art. If you are an art seller or love buying artwork, you should consider using blockchain because you have a lot to gain.

References

https://blockchain.oodles.io/blog/modernizing-art-industry-blockchain-solutions/

https://www.ft.com/content/1c5062d8-900b-11e8-bb8f-a6a2f7bca546

https://www.iberdrola.com/culture/blockchain-applications-in-art

The Mona Lisa: What Makes it a Masterpiece?

The Mona Lisa is arguably the most recognizable piece of art in the world. But, what makes Mona Lisa a Masterpiece?

Her enigmatic smile,- despite being debated continuously amongst historians and art scholars, there’s still great speculation about the identity and the meaning behind da Vinci’s painting.

Enthusiasts come from everywhere around the world just to see her. Thousands of visitors line up daily to take a look at the masterpiece that has been carefully kept for centuries.

There are many reasons for her fame that make up for an interesting story and help explain her enduring popularity. To understand why this work remains iconic after so many years, we have to look at its mysterious origins, groundbreaking art techniques and the influence it still has on other artists and art movements.

So, what is behind that ambiguous smile? Today I will be breaking down and analysing what makes the Mona Lisa a Masterpiece.

Historic Context: Where Does She Come From

Leonardo da Vinci, the Italian polymath and multidisciplinary artist from the Renaissance era who created some of the world’s most iconic works, painted the Mona Lisa over several years during a large period of his life.

da Vinci should have completed the Mona Lisa around 1503. However, records show that the artist kept on working on the painting after 1503, and probably didn’t finish until he died in 1519. When da Vinci left Italy to become King Francis I’s protégé, he took the Mona Lisa with him. Right before da Vinci died, he sold what was to be considered the biggest masterpiece on earth, to King Francis for 4,000 gold coins.

Since then, the iconic painting has been passed on to the hands of kings, presidents, museums and private collectors, – from Louis XIV to Napolean Bonaparte.

She’s finally found a permanent home now. This enigmatic figure has been under Louvre’s protection for decades now, where she currently remains after a dispute between the U.S. President John F. Kennedy and the rest of Europe claiming the masterpiece as a heritage symbol.

The origin behind her name comes from what’s thought to be a portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of an Italian silk merchant named Francesco del Giocondo. Mona Lisa’s alternative name is La Gioconda due to who it was commissioned to.

But here’s where things get complicated now: apparently yes, – Mona Lisa is a commissioned portrait of Giocondo’s wife Lisa. And I do believe in that.

However, speculation surrounding the iconic piece suggests that the Mona Lisa is just a feminized version of Leonardo da Vinci himself… But I will dive into that later on, so you might as well keep reading!

Techniques

To create a masterpiece you have to be a master yourself. And Leonardo da Vinci was an absolute genius. Drawing, painting, sculpting, da Vinci was also an engineer, a scientist, an architect and a theorist,- a man of many talents you may say.

Through a series of innovations in technique and practice, which are still taught to this day, this Italian polymath has revolutionized the art world when he painted the Mona Lisa.

Unlike other paintings of the 16th century, the Mona Lisa is a very realistic portrait of a real person. Scholars have attributed this sort of accomplishment due to the artist’s brush and colour blending skills. Mona Lisa’s softly sculpted face shows how innovative da Vinci was in regards to exploring new techniques.

Sfumato was one of them, you can see that da Vinci utilizes light and shadows to model form in a way that reveals the skull below the skin. The veil delicately painted, the hair finely worked on, and the fabric carefully rendered all show intense careful observation.

In addition to its incredible technicalities, the woman’s soft smile is incredibly alluring. There’s also a thing called the Mona Lisa Effect: The resonance of her facial expression depends on the angle from which the viewer approaches it. From one viewpoint she looks cheerful and happy; and from another one, for some viewers, it is difficult to tell if she is simply smiling or not at all.

Although the Mona Lisa Effect is revolutionary by itself, she is also the earliest Italian portrait to include a full-length figure with arms. She is shown resting against a column staring out into the horizon behind her. The picture frame lies on the columns and creates a window effect that looks out over both distance and foreground.

Her Unique Face and Smile

As I said just now, her expressionless gaze can follow you around the room. And her powerful stare continues to captivate all who encounter her.

After 500 years of enduring those who have let themselves be lost in contemplation of her mocking smile, the Mona Lisa still maintains intense eye contact with everyone that lets themselves be absorbed by her image. I have to admit, I’ve been to the Louvre before just to see her and it made me feel uneasy, to say the least…

Art historians have proposed numerous theories for the fascination with Mona Lisa. Most medical hypotheses examine dental problems, facial paralysis and even thyroid issues as evidence of her captivating face.

One theory explaining the Mona Lisa’s smile hinges on entertainers who would have made the model laugh during the painting process, allowing Leonardo da Vinci to capture this unique and slightly stifled smile.

It is also rumoured that there are secrets and hidden symbols behind her alluring expression. The buzzing masterpiece is still a hot topic of discussion when it comes to who the model actually is.

With theories suggesting that the iconic woman could be inspired by random Italians posing for da Vinci, including da Vinci himself. But, despite these side theories, a note written by Agostino Vespucci in 1503, indicated that Leonardo da Vinci told him he was working on a painting to the wife of Giocondo, who commissioned the piece.

Art historians generally agree that Mona Lisa is actually Giocondo’s wife.

Scholars have also speculated that Leonardo created more than one version of the Mona Lisa. In addition to the original commissioned by Gherardini del Giocondo, there is a second version painted in 1513 and believed to be commissioned by Giuliano de Medici. The latter is said to be exhibited at the Louvre.

Becoming an Icon

Due to Mona Lisa’s ambiguous gaze and mysterious face, this timeless masterpiece has been the subject of mocking, idolization, deep analysis and studies, commercial appropriation and meme culture content. People have adopted her as an international symbol of the arts. Her inconspicuous origin has been a discussed theme that has been buzzing for decades.

Mona Lisa is one of the most copied and reproduced paintings in the world. Since its creation, artists have appropriated her image, from Leonardo’s contemporaries to modern painters.

Duchamp took a postcard of the Mona Lisa and added a moustache and goatee. Artists like Warhol, Dali, Basquiat and Banksy have made their own interpretations of her in a variety of styles, including painting her as a dinosaur, unicorn, and even sporting sunglasses and Mickey Mouse ears.

What Really Made the Mona Lisa a Masterpiece

Despite all the theories, speculation, mockery and idolization behind this iconic figure, what turned the highly valuable piece into a Masterpiece was more than just the revolutionary art techniques.

For centuries, the Mona Lisa hung quietly in the Louvre. But, on August 21, 1911, Mona Lisa was stolen right off of the museum’s wall during a heist, shooking up the art world.

Suspicions were widespread as the Louvre shut for a week so investigators could collect pieces of the puzzle. Initially, conspiracy theories abounded, claiming that it was all a publicity stunt orchestrated by the Louvre or perhaps Pablo Picasso had taken it.

After more than two years, an Italian carpenter working at the Louvre back in 1913 was accused of stealing the Mona Lisa from a Florentine art dealer who received information that it was out there. The French police found Vincenzo Peruggia, who admitted he had stolen the painting to duplicate it and resell it, claiming it belonged in an Italian museum rather than a French one.

From the day that Mona Lisa was returned to the Louvre, it didn’t take long for people from all around the world to make pilgrimages and admire her genius.

Since then, the masterpiece has been subject to various attacks. She has suffered an acid attack, a rock being thrown at her and a clay mug too. Who would’ve thought such an enigmatic and mysterious work would cause such a ruckus…

But there you have it. Due to all the hype and the interest, the several cultural resets it has accompanied, the artistic techniques it has shaped and the overwhelming buzz it has made, the Mona Lisa is indeed a masterpiece for all its history, – not just because of its genius, but because it has had an impact in so many different settings and social contexts.

Curiosities

Conclusion

• The Mona Lisa is a painting made by Leonardo da Vinci. It’s thought to be a portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of an Italian silk merchant named Francesco del Giocondo.
  
• Unlike other paintings of the 16th century, the Mona Lisa is a very realistic portrait of a real person. Scholars have attributed this sort of accomplishment due to his brush and colour blending skills called sfumato.
  
• The Mona Lisa Effect: From one viewpoint she looks cheerful and happy; and from another, for some viewers, it is difficult to tell if she is simply smiling or not at all.
• It is also rumoured that there are secrets and hidden symbols behind her alluring expression. The buzzing masterpiece is still a hot topic of discussion when it comes to who the model actually is. One theory believes it’s a feminized self-portrait of da Vinci.
  
• Due to Mona Lisa’s ambiguous gaze and mysterious face, this timeless masterpiece has been the subject of mocking, idolization, deep analysis and studies, commercial appropriation and meme culture content. People have adopted her as an international symbol of the arts. 
  
• Mona Lisa is one of the most copied and reproduced paintings in the world.
• Despite all the theories, speculation, mockery and idolization behind this iconic figure, what turned the highly valuable piece into a Masterpiece was more than just the revolutionary art techniques. 
  
• The masterpiece has been subject to various attacks and scandalous theft. She has suffered an acid attack, a rock being thrown at her and a clay mug too.
  
• The Mona Lisa is indeed a masterpiece for all its history, – not just because of its genius, but because it has had an impact in so many different settings and social contexts.