Mona Lisa

Mona Lisa o La Gioconda

This is a postcard of a reproduction of the Mona Lisa which I saw in an art gallery (which Berger appreciates describing the "pilgrimage" with "everything around the image as part of the image") in Madrid's Prado. 

This is interesting because art historians has established that this is in an intermediate stage due to the unfinished landscape and oval face and also that it is not done by Leonardo da Vinci either. That it is indeed a reproduction. They aren't sure who did this reproduction but predict that it is one of his students either Salai (1403-1524) or Melzi (1493-1572) due to recognisable features of the makers craftsmanship. Therefore it is regarded as something which cannot be regarded as a routine workshop copy-this has an aura of its own.

"Original paintings are still unique. They look different from how they look on the television or on postcards. Reproductions distort." (Berger 1972) They change the meaning of art. They make it more accessible for people as they can take them home and stick them on their walls to look at or even send them through the post-a household item due to the capitalist phenomenon. However, they are; smaller, without texture (converted to digital), out of the art gallery and therefore do they degrade the authority of art by taking the meaning out of the original as there are so many reproductions. I collect postcards from each gallery I go to ( I have about 300 now and they cover my walls. I like that I can physically have them and take them home as a souvenir and momento. I also like having artwork from different styles all over my bedroom, so visually pleasing and I can appreciate and look at them whenever I want for however long I want). This examplifies Benjamin "every day the urge grows stronger to get hold of an onject at very close range by way of  its likeness, its reproduction"

"You do not go to them. The days of pilgrimage are over"(Berger 1972) now it is more common to se images on screens or printed out than it is for people to go and see paintings. Even when people do go to galleries is it meaningful because there are lots of queues? why is the Mona Lisa so famous and the original behind bullet proof glass?

Paintings are now "pieces of information to be used, even to persuade us to help purchase more originals which these very reproductions have in many ways replaced" (Berger 1972) Buying postcards and souvenirs has become a massive part of our culture. These things make original pieces extremely famous. Examples of this are the front covers of the exhibition leaflets.