While often hailed as an iconic work of art, the Mona Lisa's fame is a surprisingly recent phenomenon. For 300 years after Leonardo da Vinci painted it in the early 1500s, the portrait was largely unknown. The painting's rise to global celebrity began in the 19th century, first capturing the imagination of writers and critics who transformed the "cheerful housewife" into a mysterious femme fatale. Its notoriety exploded in the 20th century following a sensational 1911 theft, which made headlines worldwide and turned the painting into an international celebrity. The Mona Lisa's fame continued to build through pop culture, with artists like Marcel Duchamp mocking it and the advertising industry using it to sell everything from fridge magnets to condoms. This combination of a remarkable painting, a new public museum, intellectual re-evaluation, and a high-profile theft propelled the Mona Lisa to its status as the most famous painting in the world.
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