Da Vinci used a very special painting style in this painting, known as Sfumato. The technique of blending. The background you see in this painting is a landscape. It is the Arno Valley in Italy. There are no clear boundaries or outlines between the background and Mona Lisa. In some places, Mona Lisa’s hair is blended with the landscape. Blurring the outlines and blending the colours is the technique of Sfumato. This is the secret behind Mona Lisa’s mysterious smile.
Look at Mona Lisa’s smile carefully. The more you look at this smile, the more serious this face will look. But now look into Mona Lisa’s eyes. Suddenly, you will see Lisa smiling more. If you look at any part of the painting, be it the background, Mona Lisa’s forehead or her eyes, you will see the effect. Lisa’s face starts smiling more when you don’t focus on the smile.
To perfect this smile, da Vinci spent the most time. He spent many nights in a hospital in Florence, where he used to go and remove the skin of dead bodies. He wanted to study the facial muscles and nerves and how they work together to create a smile. He wrote in his book that “the muscles which move the lips are more numerous in man than in any other animal.”
