When I was 13 I saw the Mona Lisa in her 30” x 21” glory. I can remember the slivers of light that formed through the dense crowd. My heels had to leave the floor so my eyes could see. The colors were far dimmer then a I had imaged, muddy, brown and faded. And the size of the painting had underpassed my expectations. The thick ornate gold frame that hugged the painting’s edges only served to bring greater attention to the painting’s small stature and muted existence. I can remember finding some humor in watching the crowd form around such a seemingly boring painting. It was an underwhelming experience to say the least.

For the 13 years that predated this experience, like many, I had been bombarded by the painting’s replicated lore. Tinting, enlarging, cropping and photoshopping all done to enhance the paintings predetermined beauty. The “true” Mona Lisa remained hidden behind the multiplying copies.

I can remember as a I child feeling confused by societies infatuation. While some looked at her demurred smile and saw a crime mystery I saw it as a lack of imagination. While  I could appreciate the realism of the idolized painting I could not quite understand the point of portraying such a dull world. At the time I figured that my lack for luster was the consequence of the painting’s artificial multiplicity getting in the way of the “truth”.

The problem as I later came to learn was not the replicas but the original itself. In his essay The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction Walter Bejamin argued that mechaninical reproduction would result in a “shattering of tradition” as the work was catapulted into a renewed present tense existence. By replicating a work of art we get to see it in contexts that would otherwise be unimaginable. Just try imagine some billionaire tearing out the”actual” Mona Lisa and stitching it onto their tote. With replication we can mimic this imagined reality and in the process renew the meaning of the work.

The whole time I had been searching for a way to enjoy the “original” all while ignoring the spoofs. When I look at the Mona Lisa now I don’t see it through the lens of the past but through the imagination of the present. It has left its origins and entered the realm of cultural imagination. No longer a depiction it is now a mirror.

– Kate McGorry