Why does the article bring in the Mona Lisa?

After analyzing flowers, the article asks: what if we were to analyze a true, timeless, and treasured artifact of human history? The Mona Lisa is that artifact.

What does the article do with the Mona Lisa?

It lists elements the viewer can be intrigued by (eyes, smile, background, pose, frame, colors, the painting as a whole) and tells the reader to abstract each one to find new meanings.

What principle does the Mona Lisa illustrate?

That exercising abstraction makes it possible to find new meanings, like treasure hunting. Each symbol in the painting contains its own set of meanings.

Artwork

Mona Lisa

What is the Mona Lisa in the Agency editorial?

The Mona Lisa is Leonardo da Vinci's portrait that the Agency editorial uses as the ultimate semiotics exercise. The article says it can be interpreted from an infinite number of perspectives to get an infinite number of meanings unique to each viewer.

In short

In Issue.12, the Mona Lisa is the example the author chooses to demonstrate the power of semiotic abstraction after the reader has practiced on flowers. The article invites the reader to be intrigued by the eyes, the smile, the background, the pose, the frame, and the colors. For each element the command is the same: abstract it. The painting proves that a single work of art can yield as many readings as there are viewers.

Key facts

Why does the article bring in the Mona Lisa?: After analyzing flowers, the article asks: what if we were to analyze a true, timeless, and treasured artifact of human history? The Mona Lisa is that artifact.
What does the article do with the Mona Lisa?: It lists elements the viewer can be intrigued by (eyes, smile, background, pose, frame, colors, the painting as a whole) and tells the reader to abstract each one to find new meanings.
What principle does the Mona Lisa illustrate?: That exercising abstraction makes it possible to find new meanings, like treasure hunting. Each symbol in the painting contains its own set of meanings.

What is the Mona Lisa?

The Mona Lisa is the portrait painted by Leonardo da Vinci, one of the most studied and recognized works of art in history. The article does not discuss its history or technique. It introduces the painting as a true, timeless, and treasured artifact of human history and uses it purely as an object of semiotic analysis.

How does the Mona Lisa appear in the Agency editorial?

In Issue.12, the Mona Lisa arrives in the section Decoding a Flower, after the reader has practiced abstraction on three real flowers. The author lists the elements that can intrigue a viewer and repeats the command to abstract each one. The exercise demonstrates that the many different symbols and signs in the painting each contain a set of meanings, and that if you can find a hundred different types of messages in the image of a flower, you can craft a hundred thousand different messages for your ads.

The article also notes that Da Vinci chose the colors of the painting and that the viewer can be even more intrigued by them, making color itself a layer of semiotic meaning.

Source editions

Where this entry comes from in the Agency editorial.

Issue.12 - SemioticsApril 10, 2023Read the edition

Also from these editions: concepts

Also from these editions: terms

Related terms

Dissectverb: To cut apart or systematically separate components of an organism or complex idea in order to examine its structure in detail.
Monoclenoun: A single eyeglass lens designed to correct or enhance vision in one eye, held in place by the facial muscles around the eye socket.