How to Understand Mona Lisa by Formal Analysis

Representing Leonardo da Vinci's highest artistic achievement, he successfully shaped the image of bourgeois women in a city during the rise of capitalism. The figures in the painting sit gracefully, with implicit smiles and deep mountains and rivers as the background, vividly showing the painter's unique smoky "unbounded gradient coloring method"-like brushwork. The painter tried to skillfully combine the rich inner feelings of the characters with the beautiful shapes. For the key parts of the portrait face, such as the corners of the eyes, lips, etc., he also pays special attention to mastering the dialectical relationship between precision and implication, so as to achieve the charm, thus making Mona Lisa's smile have eternal mysterious charm, which is called "mysterious smile" by many art historians. Under the influence of humanism, Leonardo da Vinci focused on expressing people's feelings. In terms of composition, Leonardo da Vinci changed the habit of using a side bust or chest when painting portraits in the past and replaced it with a front bust. The perspective point rises slightly, making the composition pyramid-shaped, and the Mona Lisa looks more dignified and steady. In addition, Mona Lisa's hand, delicate, precise and plump, shows her tenderness, status and class status, and shows Leonardo's exquisite painting skills and his keen observation of nature. In addition, Mona Lisa's eyebrows disappeared due to chemical reaction, and blue sky appeared in the background.