What are Mona Lisa's smiles?

83% happiness, 9% boredom and 6% fear.

17 February 17, the Louvre in Paris, France announced that Mona Lisa's smile contains 83% happiness, 9% disgust, 6% fear and 2% anger. A university in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, used "emotion recognition software" to analyze this result. The picture shows the photo of Mona Lisa taken in the Louvre on April 5, 2005.

When we stare at Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting "Mona Lisa's Smile", we are often confused by that beautiful smile with three points of gentleness and seven points of confusion. From a distance, it seems to be absent, sometimes it looks gentle and comfortable, sometimes it is slightly sad, and sometimes it even reveals some ridicule.

What makes this unpredictable magic smile? Scientists have made a new interpretation by using computer technology: her smile contains many emotions such as joy, boredom and fear.

* * * A smile carries four emotions.

Scientists from the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands and the University of Illinois in the United States jointly developed an "emotion recognition software". It can evaluate a person's mood by analyzing facial expression features, such as the curvature of lips and wrinkles around eyes, and then calculate the proportions of joy, sadness, fear, anger, surprise and disgust respectively.

The analysis of Mona Lisa's smile shows that it contains 83% joy, 9% boredom, 6% fear and 2% anger. The research results will be published in the journal New Science published on the 24th of this month. However, what is the scene that evokes Mona Lisa's four emotions at the same time? This is probably another puzzle that is difficult to explain.

* * * mysterious smile, they said.

Of course, this "emotional theory" is only the latest version among many sayings.

Margaret Livingstone, a neurobiologist at Harvard Medical School, believes that the flashing of Mona Lisa's smile is the result of our eye movements. According to Livingstone's analysis, the human eye observes the world through two different areas. One is the central area, called fovea, which allows people to see colors, identify printed symbols and distinguish details; The other is the peripheral area, which is distributed around the central fossa and is the area where people can distinguish between black and white, capture motion and distinguish shadows. People often look into each other's eyes when observing others. When appreciating the Mona Lisa, people first pay attention to the eyes of the characters. When the central area of the observer's eyes is on Mona Lisa's eyes, the line of sight of the "peripheral area" will fall on her mouth. In view of the observation characteristics of the peripheral visual area, it will soon notice the shadow of the Mona Lisa's cheekbones, and then make people realize the existence of a smile. However, when directly observing Mona Lisa's mouth, the central area of the human eye will not notice the shadow, so "people will never see a smile from her mouth." From this, Livingstone concluded that Mona Lisa's smile appeared and disappeared completely because of the effect of the observer's eyes swimming on her face.

Susan Gill, a Canadian art historian, published a shocking research result. She said that Mona Lisa's lips, which attracted countless audiences, were men's bare backs. This argument is novel and absurd, but it is powerful. Leonardo da Vinci, a painter, sculptor, architect, engineer and scientist, was a "geek". He is left-handed and used to write backwards from right to left. People must read what he wrote with a mirror. Therefore, using the mirror is also a way for the audience to look at the picture. After rotating 90 degrees, Mona Lisa's lips in the mirror are just the back of a strong man with clear lines, as well as his left arm and elbow angle; Moreover, expressing the beauty of human body and calling for the awakening of human nature is not only Leonardo da Vinci's philosophy of life, but also his artistic view.

There are also some "opinions from one family", which sounds very creative.

Dr Joseph Baukowski of Maryland, USA, said: "The Mona Lisa didn't laugh at all. Her facial expression typically shows that she wants to hide that she has no front teeth. "

Dr Jean Jacques Condette, a brain surgeon in Lyon, France, believes that Mona Lisa has just suffered a stroke, and the muscles of half of her face are flabby, just because her face is crooked, so it looks like she is smiling.

Dr Kenneth gay friends, a British doctor, thinks the Mona Lisa is pregnant. His basis is that her face is satisfied, her skin is fresh and tender, and her hands are crossed on her abdomen. Sexologists speculate that Mona Lisa has just experienced an orgasm, so she showed a smile that fascinated the world.

There is also an almost nonsense statement: her expression looks like she ate phenylalanine, a pleasure hormone produced in her body after eating chocolate. Few people believe this statement because there was no chocolate at that time.

There is also a version:

Mystery of Mona Lisa's smile

For 500 years, people have been unable to agree on the mysterious smile of Mona Lisa. Different audiences or at different times look and feel different. I think she sometimes smiles comfortably and gently, sometimes looks serious, sometimes looks slightly sad, and sometimes even reveals ridicule and ridicule. In a painting, the change of light can't be as different as in sculpture. However, on Mona Lisa's face, dim shadows appear and disappear, covering her eyes and lips with a veil. However, people's smiles are mainly reflected in the corners of their eyes and corners of their mouths. But Leonardo da Vinci's descriptions of these parts are faint and have no clear boundaries, which is why there is such an elusive "mysterious smile".

Dr. Livingstone, a neuroscientist at Harvard University, said that Mona Lisa's smile was flickering, which was related to the human visual system, rather than the mysterious expression of the people in the painting. Dr. Livingstone is an authority on visual nerve activity, mainly studying the response of eyes and brain to different contrast and light and shade. Livingstone said: "The smile is flashing because the viewer has changed the position of his eyes." She said that the human eye has two different parts to receive images. The central part (that is, the shallow fossa on the retina) is responsible for distinguishing colors and marking them carefully. Pay attention to the black and white, movements and shadows around the shallow pit. According to Livingstone, when people look at a face, most of their eyes are fixed on the other person's eyes. If people's central vision is placed in Mona Lisa's eyes, then less accurate peripheral vision will fall on her mouth. Because peripheral vision does not pay attention to nuances, it invisibly highlights the shadow of cheekbones. In this way, the radian of the smile is even greater. However, when the eyes look directly at Mona Lisa's mouth, the central vision will not see the shadow. Livingstone said, "If you look at her mouth, you will never catch her smile." Mona Lisa's smile is looming because people's eyes are constantly shifting. Livingstone pointed out that if you want to copy the Mona Lisa, you should look away when describing your mouth.

1993, Susan Gill, a Canadian art historian, published a shocking research result. She said that Mona Lisa's lips, which attracted countless audiences, were men's bare backs. This argument is novel and absurd, but it is powerful. Leonardo da Vinci, a painter, sculptor, architect, engineer and scientist, was a "geek". He likes to wear a pink coat, paint his beard with colorful colors without scruple, and often claims that he has dissected more than 30 bodies. He is still left-handed and used to write backwards from right to left. Others must use the mirror to read what he wrote. Therefore, using the mirror is also a way for the audience to look at the picture. After rotating 90 degrees, Mona Lisa's lips in the mirror are just the back of a strong man with clear lines, as well as his left arm and elbow angle; Besides, expressing the beauty of human body and calling for the awakening of human nature is not only the master's philosophy of life, but also his artistic view.

Indeed, people will get different feelings when they appreciate this painting from different angles and under different light. That smile is sometimes gentle, sometimes serene and serious, sometimes slightly sad, and sometimes somewhat ironic and ridiculous. The mysterious smile reveals the mysterious spiritual activities of the characters.

For hundreds of years, new explanations of "smile" have emerged one after another. For example, smiling without showing white teeth is because the prototype is elegant and beautiful but not good at words; The prototype is depressed and unhappy because of the death of his beloved daughter, and it is difficult to hide his sadness. What's more, Mona Lisa was pushed off the throne of a lady, and the prototype was demoted to a prostitute, so she smiled with ridicule and ridicule.

Dr Joseph Baukowski of Maryland, USA, said: "The Mona Lisa didn't laugh at all. Her facial expression typically shows that she wants to hide that she has no front teeth. "

Dr Jean Jacques Kondert, a brain surgeon in Lyon, France, thinks that Mona Lisa has just suffered a stroke. Look, half of her face is flabby and her face is crooked, so she looks smiling.

Dr Kenneth gay friends, a British doctor, thinks the Mona Lisa is pregnant. His basis is that her face is satisfied, her skin is fresh and tender, and her hands are crossed on her abdomen. Sexologists speculate that Mona Lisa has just experienced an orgasm, so she showed a smile that fascinated the world.

There is also an almost nonsense statement: her expression looks like she ate phenylalanine, a pleasure hormone produced in her body after eating chocolate. Few people believe this statement because there was no chocolate at that time.

The Mystery of the Authenticity of Mona Lisa

It is said that Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is collected in the Louvre in Paris. However, there is a saying in the collection that it is not the Mona Lisa hanging in the Louvre, but the real Mona Lisa hanging on the wall of an apartment in London.

Dr Pulitzer, the custodian of the apartment and the work, said that after the Mona Lisa was completed, the work was left in Lisa de Zogon's home. Later, another nobleman asked Da Vinci to paint a portrait of his mistress. The woman known as "La Gioconda" (meaning "smiling person") looks very much like the Mona Lisa. So the lazy Da Vinci changed the Mona Lisa's face into "Jokangda". After the painting was completed, the nobles abandoned La Qiaokangda and did not buy this painting. Later, at the invitation of Francis I, Leonardo da Vinci took the painting to France. Pulitzer said that what makes the Louvre more brilliant is the portrait of Gioconda. Mona Lisa was later exiled to England. At the beginning of this century, it was bought by william blake, a museum curator and art connoisseur, and later by a Swiss consortium, of which Pulitzer was a member.

At the beginning of this century, many people copied and forged famous works of art on a large scale, so there is reason to suspect that the one in London is a fake. However, Dr. Pulitzer is convinced of the authenticity of his paintings. He confirmed through photomicrography that the fingerprints on this painting in London are the same as those on other works of Leonardo da Vinci. According to records, the Mona Lisa is younger 19 years old than La Giocondo, and was painted with a veil of mourning. Of the two paintings, only the one in London shows a young woman wearing a beautiful veil. Another evidence is that Raphael drew a sketch when Leonardo da Vinci painted this painting. There are two pillars behind the Mona Lisa in the sketch, which appear in the portrait of London, while the background of the Louvre painting is cliffs, paths, stone bridges, trees and flowing water.

For hundreds of years, many collectors have claimed that they have the real Mona Lisa, and the number has reached as many as 60. More interestingly, the Bertrand Museum of Art in Maine received a Mona Lisa without a smile at 1984. It has been determined that this painting was indeed written by Leonardo da Vinci, and all the characters in the painting resemble the Mona Lisa. Experts speculate that this smiling Mona Lisa may be a manuscript drawn by the author at the same time.

There is also a saying that the Mona Lisa in the Louvre is a fake, which is based on the theft in 19 1 1. The Mona Lisa was stolen in that theft. Two years later, it appeared in Italy, but the colonnade on both sides behind the Mona Lisa has been cut off. A few years later, the Mona Lisa was returned to the Louvre. However, many experts believe that this recovery is only a smoke screen. The real Mona Lisa has been bought by a rich collector, and what hangs in the Louvre is only a fake.