Famous paintings & Their background stories

MONA LISA Back story- While the mysterious smile of the gorgeous lady has always been enigmatic to the viewers, the story behind the painting makes it all the more special. The lady in the painting was a certain Lisa del Giocondo, who was a member of the Gherardini family of Florence and the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, a wealthy Florentine silk merchant. It is alleged that the family had commissioned that the painting be made to celebrate the birth of their second son, Andrea. Interesting fact- Experts have suggested that by magnifying the eyes of “Mona Lisa” under microscope, tiny letters and numbers can be seen, somewhat resembling the real Da Vinci code! In the right eye, letters LV can be seen while in the other eye, many barely defined symbols can be seen.

THE SCREAM Back story- Edward Munch’s “The Scream” is the name given to describe each of four versions created by the Expressionist artist. In one of the entries in his diary dated Nice 22 January 1892, Munch described the inspiration behind the art. He wrote, “One evening I was walking along a path, the city was on one side and the fjord below. I felt tired and ill. I stopped and looked out over the fjord—the sun was setting, and the clouds turning blood red. I sensed a scream passing through nature; it seemed to me that I heard the scream. I painted this picture, painted the clouds as actual blood. The color shrieked. This became The Scream.” Interesting facts- a) While each of the three versions of “The Scream” (two painted versions and one pastel version) grace the walls of three renowned museums, the fourth pastel version was sold at Modern Art auction on 2 May 2012 to a financier Leon Blac for a staggering $119,922,600, thus becoming one of the most expensive paintings in the history of art. b) Its immense popularity can be well judged by the fact that it has been a target of many high- profile thefts. The version in National Gallery was stolen in 1994 but recovered several months later. In 2004, the painted version of “The Scream” went missing along with another Munch painting Madonna, from the Munch Museum. Both were recovered after 2 years.

SELF PORTRAIT WITHOUT BEARD Back story- Van Gogh was prolific at making self-portraits. He is known to have painted himself over 43 times between the years 1886 and “Self Portrait Without Beard”, as the name suggests, is one of the most distinguishing ones of all because he does not sport a beard in this one. It is also highly cherished owing to the fact that it was Van Gogh’s last self-portrait, which he gave to his mother as a birthday gift. Interesting fact- At that time, it was the third most expensive paintings. As of today, it remains one of the most expensive paintings of all time, selling for a whopping $71.5 million in 1998 in New York.