Bonsoir, Lisa!

#83019     40″ X 30″      ac

• Leonardo da Vinci: “Portrait of Mola Lisa,” 1503, Louvre, Paris
• Toulouse Lautrec: “Le Moulin Rouge,” 1892, Chicago, Art Institute
• “La Dance au Moulin Rouge,” 1890, Henry P. McIhenny Coll., PA

Leonardo da Vinci’s “La Giaconda”, more familiarly known as “The Mona Lisa”, is the most famous painting in Paris’ Louvre Museum. Chen places the enigmatic Renaissance lady in a Belle Epoque (1871 – 1914) cabaret setting. She is subdued, possibly chaste. The lively crowd is hardly that. The most obvious contrast is the highly madeup theatrical figure on the right with the blue face and yellow hair.Two other interpretations: the crowds gather around the painting, but they don’t really see it; or after being gawked at by the crowds immemorial, the sullen lady is looking back and judging them.

This is another good example of Chen’s using a major icon as a visual representation but without interest, or need, to imitate the original painter’s technique.

– Lawrance Jeppson