Newsreel Announcer 0:03
It's Mona Lisa Day in Washington. In the West Statuary Hall at the National Gallery of Art, nearly 2,000 first nighters, including the First Lady, stunning in a long pink dress see President Kennedy introduced the world's most famous painting to Americans.
Liz Lidgett 0:21
Welcome back to Ten Minute Masterpieces where we explore curious stories behind the world's most renowned works of art. I'm Liz Lidgett. I'm an art advisor and gallery owner in Des Moines, Iowa. In this episode, Mona Lisa, Part Two, we will continue to learn about the most talked about smile in the world. If you haven't yet listened to our first episode about Mona Lisa, we recommend checking out Part One before continuing with this episode about how the First Lady of the Renaissance keeps making her mark, even in our modern world.
Liz Lidgett 0:52
When President John F. Kennedy and his wife arrived in Paris in the spring of 1961 for a state visit, they were well received by the French public. After all, Jackie Kennedy was fluent in French, interested in the arts, and loved Paris, France and the First Lady were charmed by each other.
French Newscaster 1:09
A Versailles, s'achève la visite de JFK et de sa femme Jackie, que la France était si heureuse d'accueillir. (Translation: In Versailles, ends the visit of JFK and his wife Jackie, whom France was so delighted to greet.)
President John F. Kennedy 1:16
I come from America, the daughter of Europe, to France, which is America's oldest friend. But I come today not because merely past ties and past friendship, but because the present relationship between France and the United States is essential for the preservation of freedom around the globe.
Liz Lidgett 1:34
During the visit, a friendship began between Mrs. Kennedy and the French Minister of Culture, Georges André Malraux, who took the First Lady on a tour of French cultural and artistic treasures. A year later upon Mrs. Kennedy's invitation, Malraux visited Washington D.C., where the First Lady took the French minister on a private tour of the National Gallery of Art. During this visit, Mrs. Kennedy said to Malraux, "I would love to see the Mona Lisa again and show her to the Americans".
Liz Lidgett 2:02
That evening, a state dinner at the White House was a collection of America's most influential cultural icons, meticulously curated by Jackie Kennedy herself. The guest list included renowned violinist Isaac Stern, who entertained guests with a concert in the East Room. Other distinguished guests included abstract expressionists Mark Rothko, realist painter Andrew Wyeth, Pulitzer Prize winning writer Thornton Wilder, playwright Tennessee Williams, aviator Charles Lindbergh, and his wife writer Anne Morrow Lindbergh.
Liz Lidgett 2:34
As the magical evening in Camelot came to a close, in a moment caught on film, Minister Malraux whispered to the First Lady “Je vais vous envoyer La Jaconde”, meaning "I will send you the Mona Lisa".
Liz Lidgett 2:49
Months of negotiations, logistics, and controversy about this whispered promise ensued, all while the Cuban Missile Crisis was escalating.
Newsreel Announcer 2:58
United States arrived at the decision for an arm blockade after studying reconnaissance photographs made with high powered cameras from planes flying several miles from the Cuban coast. The U.S. threw up a steel fence prepared to stop any vessel carrying materials of war.
Liz Lidgett 3:14
Safely transporting a fragile masterpiece across a frigid winter ocean in the midst of an international military standoff was no small task. Despite the numerous challenges and objections to her journey, the Mona Lisa arrived in New York Harbor aboard the SS France on December 19, 1962, where she was given her own Secret Service detail.
Liz Lidgett 3:37
On January 8, 1963, the Mona Lisa was unveiled at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. The opening reception was a veritable Who's Who of American government and culture, including most members of Congress, the Supreme Court, and the President's Cabinet.
President John F. Kennedy 3:53
Minister, this painting is the second lady that the people of France have sent to the United States, and though she will not stay with us as long as the Statue of Liberty, our appreciation is equally great.
Liz Lidgett 4:06
Kennedy's speech at the unveiling underscored the allyship between France and the United States. He positioned the Mona Lisa as a Cold War symbol of western ideals of freedom, in stark contrast to the repression of communism.
Newsreel Announcer 4:19
The enigmatic smile acts like a magnet to both art lovers and the curious. The gallery is jammed as the crowd passes by the painting, four abreast. Some stand in line repeatedly for just one more glimpse of the smile and as launched a thousand arguments.
Liz Lidgett 4:33
The Mona Lisa was on public display in the nation's capital until February when it moved to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, before returning home to the Louvre in March of 1963. During her three month American tour nearly two million people lined up to see the Renaissance lady and her mesmerizing grin including one of the artists we represent here at the gallery. Hunt Slonem is an internationally acclaimed artist whose paintings hang in museums and galleries around the world. Hunt will always have a special place in my heart, because he was one of the first artists to say yes to be represented by Liz Lidgett Gallery. Hunt shared these memories about his first time seeing the Mona Lisa.
Hunt Slonem 5:15
It came to Washington D.C. when I was in junior high school. My parents took me to see it. It was at the National Gallery. And I remember it was in the evening. And there was a lot of protocol and not security like today. But there were guards and guns and I was surprised at how unobstructed my view of it was and how it was just right there. And now the scale was much smaller than I even anticipated. And it was on this big, red velvet curtain I remember. I don't know why the Mona Lisa has captivated the world other than for its masterful skill. It's not that it's not a great painting. I mean, nobody can paint that. I mean, nobody on this planet could do a DaVinci. And who was she? That's the other kind of mystery about it. It's one of those things it's of a moment in time, and a historical exclamation point for so many reasons. Very few things rock the world that way.
Newsreel Announcer 6:21
Nearly 10,000 people filed by the Mona Lisa the first day, making her by far the most popular hostess in Washington. Everybody wants to meet the new girl in town.
Liz Lidgett 6:32
The Mona Lisa's American tour inspired pop artist Andy Warhol to produce a collection of screen printed and multicolored Mona Lisas. The series captured the zeitgeist at the time in 1963, when America was consumed with Mona Mania, after the art icon's US tour. Warhol's series also commented on the connection between high art and mass produced consumer culture.
Liz Lidgett 6:56
Warhol's Mona Lisa series is just one of countless parodies by artists including Marcel Duchamp's 1919 Dadaist ready-made collage created from a cheap Mona Lisa postcard on which Duchamp drew a mustache and a beard in pencil and renamed the masterpiece L.H.O.O.Q. The five letter name is a gramagram. The letters pronounced in French sound like “Elle a chaud au cul”, which roughly translates to "She has a hot ass". <<whistle sound>>
Liz Lidgett 7:25
The Mona Lisa played a role in Dan Brown's best selling thriller The DaVinci Code. Here's Tom Hanks is Professor Robert Langdon and Audrey Tautou as cryptologist Sophie Neveu in a nighttime scene at the Louvre with the Mona Lisa from Ron Howard's 2006 film adaptation.
Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon 7:41
Her smile is in the lower spatial frequencies. See she appears larger from the left than on the right. Historically the left was female the right was male.
Audrey Tautou as Sophie Neveu 7:50
The sacred feminine.
Liz Lidgett 7:52
Sophie raises a blacklight to the painting revealing a cryptic message scrawled on the Mona Lisa.
Audrey Tautou as Sophie Neveu 7:58
So dark the con of man.
Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon 8:03
Sermon, charms, demons, omens, codes, monks, ranks, rocks.
Audrey Tautou as Sophie Neveu 8:09
Madonna of The Rocks.
Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon 8:11
DaVinici!
Liz Lidgett 8:12
Despite or maybe because of her fame, the Mona Lisa has been vandalized many times over the years.
Liz Lidgett 8:19
In the 1950s, the painting was placed under protective glass after a visitor poured acid on her <<bubbling acid sound>> and another hit her with a rock <<thud sound>> causing damage to her left elbow <<woman saying "Ouch!">>. In 1974, a Japanese disability rights Activist sprayed the Mona Lisa with red paint. <<spray paint sound>> In 2009, a visitor hurled a teacup at her. <<shattering ceramic sound>>. And in May of 2022, a climate activist dressed as an elderly woman jumped out of a wheelchair, smeared cake all over her bulletproof glass, and threw roses at the crowd in the gallery until he was taken into custody by museum security.
Liz Lidgett 8:55
The Mona Lisa holds the Guinness World Record for the highest insurance value in the art market. In 1962, ahead of her journey to the U.S., the Mona Lisa was insured for $100 million. <<cash register sound>> That would be 870 million in today's money. However, under French heritage law, the Mona Lisa cannot be bought or sold. She is truly priceless.
Liz Lidgett 9:19
Personally, I love the way that this mysterious woman from over 500 years ago continues to captivate the world. I feel like she's a woman with secrets. But what woman isn't? I think that's part of why the Mona Lisa intrigues people because there's so much unknown. Scholars often discuss the painting's masculine and feminine qualities. Some art historians argue whether over time the portrait became less Lisa Gherardini and more DaVinci himself because he carried it around for so long and kept working and working on it.
Liz Lidgett 9:52
For me, the Mona Lisa incorporates so many layers. There's been theft and she's traveled the world but even beyond that, she is a woman that represents all women. Her subtle smile endures with an enchanting power that grabs universal attention from First Ladies to tourists, to activists to thieves, to England's Rocket Man Sir Elton John.
Elton John (singing) 10:15
While Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters. . .
Liz Lidgett 10:19
Ten Minute Masterpieces is a production of Liz Lidgett Gallery and is produced by Maribeth Romslo. Special thanks to Hunt Slonem and Allison Dayka. Check out our show notes for credits to this episode, and links to more info about the Mona Lisa, including Margaret Leslie Davis's Vanity Fair article, "The Two First Ladies" which is a must-read for every art history lover. Join us next time when we take a look into a daring self study of duality called The Two Fridas by Frida Kahlo. Until then, I hope you take ten minutes and look at some art today. You might just discover your favorite masterpiece.