Looking Into Mona Lisa's Smiling Eyes: Allusion to an Illusion

Abstract

We present results from two experiments aimed at studying the direction of Mona Lisa's gaze and its affective expression. In experiment 1 we studied the effect of retinal image size on the perception of her gaze by manipulating observation distances of a high-quality print of the painting. Participants (N = 30) were asked to answer a simple question (is the person portrayed looking at you?) from six different distances ranging from 55 to 755 cm. One group of participants started evaluations from 55 cm; the other group did the opposite. Results show an effect of distance on the perception of Mona Lisa's gaze as staring at the observer: from the furthest distances, the impression of a staring Mona Lisa is robust; from the nearest distances, such impression becomes ambiguous. Experiment 2 presents data concerning the direction of Mona Lisa's gaze and whether this appears to be smiling, derived from an experiment aimed at studying the impression of gaze (direction and emotional content) in portraits (paintings and photographs). Only data concerning Mona Lisa are reported. Participants (N = 41) were randomly assigned to one of two groups: on a LCD screen, one group saw the entire head, and the other group saw only a section reproducing Mona Lisa's eyes. Experimental sessions were two: in session 1 participants had to decide whether the image (whole-head or eyes only) was looking at them; in session 2 participants had to decide whether the head (or the eyes) was smiling. RTs from the two groups of participants were not statistically significant. Results for session 1 confirm experiment 1's general findings. Results for session 2 clearly show that Mona Lisa is not only smiling with her face, but also with her eyes. Results are discussed in relation to the literature on Mona Lisa's gaze and smile.

Keywords: Mona Lisa effect; facial expressions and emotion; gaze direction changes; gaze expression; perspective robustness; picture perception; staring portraits.

Figure 1

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519), Mona Lisa (1503–5 ca, Musée du Louvre). The red rectangle delimits the area that was employed as stimulus.

Figure 2

Percentages of yes-no replies from each distance to the question posed in experiment 1.

Figure 3

Example of the stimuli employed and the results for Mona Lisa from expriment 2. Panels (A,B) display mean RTs and percentage of yes-no answers referring to session 1 (staring). Panels (C,D) display mean RTs and percentage of yes-no answers referring to session 2 (smiling).

Figure 4

Jan van Eyck, Madonna in the Church (1425 ca., Staatliche Museen, Berlin). This modified image with superimposed straight lines shows that at the time the artist had a rather intuitive concept of what linear perspective is about: "vanishing points" appear to be many, but moving sideways with respect to the image does not determine the impression of spatial distortions. In other words, the layout of the image is “robust”.

Figure 5

Ion Andreescu, Winter at Barbizon (1881, Muzeul K.H. Zambaccian, Bucharest).

Figure 6

On the left, Pablo Picasso, Self-portrait facing death (1972, Fuji Television Gallery, Tokyo). On the right, Vincent van Gogh, Self-portrait (1887, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam).