AWA

The heist that made Mona Lisa famous…

On the morning of August 21, 1911, Vincenzo Peruggia, an ex-Louvre handyman, lifted the Mona Lisa off four iron pegs, removed her protective case and frame, and wrapped her in his workman’s smock. Then he walked out of the museum into the sunny Paris morning. She was already a masterpiece. Going missing would launch her into stardom.

For more than two years, Leonardo’s lady lay hidden in a false-bottomed trunk in Vincenzo’s Paris apartment. French police questioned everyone from Pablo Picasso to poet Guillaume Apollinaire - even Vincenzo himself. No luck.

He was finally caught in Florence in 1913 after offering the painting to an antiques dealer. By then, the theft had transformed an art-world darling into a global obsession. Vincenzo had once helped protect paintings at the Louvre. But it was taking one out of its frame that made her a household name...

🎨 Huge thanks to @jaivuuuuuu for leading us through the Louvre

#accidentallywesanderson #awa #thelouvre #monalisa