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The Secret of the Mona Lisa Smile: Mystery Solved? | NOVA | PBS

NOVA PBS Official | September 15, 2026



Is she smiling? Uncover the optical illusions and surprising science behind the Mona Lisa.

Why does the Mona Lisa’s smile seem to vanish? Discover how Leonardo da Vinci mastered the science of human perception to create his greatest illusion.

Watch the full documentary, “Decoding da Vinci” https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/decoding-da-vinci/

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Written by NOVA PBS Official

Comments

This post currently has 45 comments.

  7. @fabrisseterbrugghe8567

    September 15, 2026 at 10:01 am

    I saw Mona Lisa for the first time just before I turned 8. It wasn't her smile we talked about, it was that her eyes followed you around the room. This was before bullet proof glass and huge crowds. I still remember the adults in our group giving me a couple of minutes to walk in an arc to see if it was true. It was.

  8. @jeffrobbins3061

    September 15, 2026 at 10:01 am

    Very interesting ideas, but still missing the truth of the Mona Lisa: that she is pregnant, and she is smiling because she has new life in her belly behind those luminous hands. I suppose that women would be more able to see this pregnancy than men can see. The swelling in the breasts, the absence of rings on her fingers, the facts that she was newly married and sat for Leonardo for five years so must have been pregnant for some of that time, although maybe the father of her child was not her husband but rather Leonardo himself and so he held onto to the painting for the rest of his life.

  13. @gothnate

    September 15, 2026 at 10:01 am

    What mystery? The smile doesn't change no matter how you look at it. This is just people trying to put more into something than is there. It's one of two things: Emotional Projection or Apophenia.

    Emotional Projection: Projecting our own hidden desires, anxieties, or a sense of absence onto a neutral person, object, or event, using it as a substitute for real connection or purpose.
    Apophenia: Seeing meaningful patterns or connections in random or meaningless data.

    That's the entire "mystery".

  18. @uttula

    September 15, 2026 at 10:01 am

    Funny how the digital restoration depicted in this video looks almost identical to the restored version of ”Prado’s Mona Lisa” … coincidence?

  22. @gandersvil

    September 15, 2026 at 10:01 am

    I didn’t see her smile disappear when I looked at the environment to her right and returned. Are you sure you guys aren’t over exaggerating it? And has nobody ever noticed (from a distance) that her head actually looks like it doesn’t belong to the body, the head is small, and as though it’s supposed to be a bust? The neck between the head and body, there’s something that doesn’t fit right. Her head is not the right size for her body. Yes, that’s it, I just figured it out, her head/chin area is not protruding properly. He’s got the shadowing in the neck wrong and the chin slightly too forward. The face looks 3D almost but the neck practically disappears nevermind 2D. It’s actually like the neck is not even really there. And what’s with her hands they’re not feminine and they’re a different colour from the rest of her. And quite large. It seems like everything is all different sizes. Her head her chest her hands it’s like it’s all bits and pieces of different body parts.

  28. @dukeluke9219

    September 15, 2026 at 10:01 am

    Humans honestly 🤣🤣🤣 he painted he didn't study the way air reacts to colours ect.. artists paint full stop.. give over.. sheep! 🤣 Too funny 🤣🤣🤣🤣

  33. @CiscoDuck

    September 15, 2026 at 10:01 am

    If you people are so smart, why don't you just spray the painting with Strip-Eze and just make your own Mona Lisa? Better still, retire the old one, hide it in a closet and do your own version with AI and pat yourself on the back for your accomplishments? Leonardo was smiling at himself in the mirror and painting what he saw. It's as simple as that. That sly smile is elusive because of that. That and his otherworldly creative abilities and talents as an artist which no human being or computer program will ever replicate or duplicate.

  34. @BillySBC

    September 15, 2026 at 10:01 am

    Put your hand over the right side of her face, the left side seems innocent. Put your hand over the left side of her face, the right side says something else.

  41. @pnwdood1758

    September 15, 2026 at 10:01 am

    yeah well, you can speculate all you like about what his motivations or actions were, but in the end only he knows. And he ain't talking. Honestly, it's kind of a boring painting. Liking it is just a way for people to try and seem cultured. It wasn't even popular or even regarded as an amazing work of art until being stolen brought it to the forefront. Prior to that it was considered an unimportant work. Meh. Maybe he just painted a painting and it's just a painting.

  42. @jayawilder3835

    September 15, 2026 at 10:01 am

    Until halfway through this video, I didn't know what all the fuss was about. Then, this time, I saw the smile change. Is this Leonardo's genius, or that of the person that shot this video?

Comments are closed.

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