Now she’s really got something to smile about.
Mona Lisa is moving out of shared digs and into her own “special space” on the Louvre, French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Tuesday — with visiting Americans expected to assist pay for the pricey upgrade.
The price of relocating the world’s most famous murals — designed to enhance access and shorten wait times for viewing — will likely be funded partially by increased ticket fees for foreign tourists, who reportedly now make up about 80% of the Paris museum’s annual visitation.
Da Vinci’s iconic’ portrait will “be installed in a special space, accessible independently of the remaining of the museum,” Macron said.
Moving the dear oil painting, dating back to the early sixteenth century, is one small a part of a reportedly long-overdue renovation expected to cost over $800 million, in keeping with one local news outlet.
Downplaying the eyebrow-raising estimate, Macron insisted that the project was “realistic and fully funded” — and wouldn’t cost French taxpayers a cent, depending as an alternative on admissions, sponsorships and more.
The announcement comes on the heels of a widely-publicized leaked memo from the museum’s president-director to a French government official, detailing quite a few structural and environmental issues said to be endangering lots of the estimated 35,000 works currently within the world-class collection.
Some culture critics hailed news of the move, saying that the Mona Lisa has stolen the highlight within the Salle des États, a room filled with too-often-ignored art, for long enough.
“ People have just been coming to envision their ‘I paid a visit to the Mona Lisa’ box,” Columbia professor of French and philosophy Souleymane Bachir Diagne told NPR.
“ And even for those who go to that room with the intention of taking a look at the opposite paintings, you can be distracted by the Mona Lisa.”
Of the 9 million visitors in attendance last 12 months, an estimated 80% were there solely for the smiling silk merchant’s wife, Quartz reported.
All-access admission to the museum currently costs about $23. Prices for non-European Union visitors will likely be hiked starting in early 2026.
Repeated attempts to deface the beloved depiction led to the painting being locked away under bulletproof glass as early because the Fifties.
One 12 months ago, activists shocked museum goers by tossing soup on the painting to make an announcement about climate change.
Back in 2022, one other environmental activist tried to interrupt through the protective barrier before throwing a cake.
“Consider the Earth,” he shouted amid the bizarre scene. “There are people who find themselves destroying the Earth. Give it some thought, artists inform you, consider the Earth. That’s why I did this.”
