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I visited the Louvre a few months ago and the tour guide said the news coverage of the theft (spoiler: a Louvre employee took it) is what catapulted the paintin

I visited the Louvre a few months ago and the tour guide said the news coverage of the theft (spoiler: a Louvre employee took it) is what catapulted the painting to become one of the most well-known paintings in the entire world. I suppose it was always valuable, but what made it astronomically value was that someone stole it and then lots of people talked about it - kind of interesting to think about how things like that come to affect the value of an item.

albert_e 3y ago
One of the popular self help books (Covey maybe?) shares an anecdote .. The author was spending time at the beach with family and friends, kids playing on the beach. There were enough and more toys for all kids to play with. One little girl however spent an inordinate amount of time showering love and attention over one specific doll. And after that all other kids wanted to play with THAT doll only, ignoring all other toys. Guess that is a commentary on human nature at some level.
- pmontra 3y ago
  FOMO meets advertising and possibly (and especially?) meet storytelling. We don't know which compelling fiction those kids developed around that doll. In another domain we observe that some TV series perform much better than the other ones available at the same time but nobody can predict which one will be the top rated.
  - antonvs 3y ago
    Of course we also don't know whether the story was made up to support the author's point.
f_allwein 3y ago
Yes, it is also a really good painting - see for example „The Story of Art“ by E. H. Gombrich for an in-depth appreciation.
BelleOfTheBall 3y ago
The funny part is that, in another article on the subject, it's said that the Louvre had absolutely awful security back then: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/stolen-how-the-mona-lisa-became-the-worlds-most-famous-painting-16406234/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/stolen-how-the-m... With multiple art pieces being stolen, it's also partially a matter of luck and publicity that Mona Lisa was so singled out to become a legend.
brandall10 3y ago
It went from one of the most valuable paintings in the world (top 10-20 or so) to THE most valuable painting in the world. Its estimated value is nearly a billion dollars which is almost twice the value of the one in second place, the Salvator Mundi. Just saw it at the Louvre myself in June. It was wild how there was that somewhat long line w/ people jockeying for position at the front to take selfies with it.
imiric 3y ago
This is the basic psychological trait exploited by advertising. Show someone important, famous, or relatable, enjoying a product, and it creates a subconscious desire in other humans to enjoy the same thing. In this case, if the item is worth stealing, then surely it must be very valuable to someone, hence it should be valuable to everyone. This being a unique item, i.e. scarcity, pushes its value to astronomical heights. There's theoretically no limit to what someone is willing to pay or do to obtain such a piece. We see this all the time in the art world.
scyzoryk_xyz 3y ago
I remember there was also a bit about how once it went missing there weren't any photographs of it and only a very ecstatic description and some drawings. So it was also this curiosity that peaked the value.

albert_e 3y ago

One of the popular self help books (Covey maybe?) shares an anecdote .. The author was spending time at the beach with family and friends, kids playing on the beach. There were enough and more toys for all kids to play with. One little girl however spent an inordinate amount of time showering love and attention over one specific doll. And after that all other kids wanted to play with THAT doll only, ignoring all other toys. Guess that is a commentary on human nature at some level.

pmontra 3y ago
FOMO meets advertising and possibly (and especially?) meet storytelling. We don't know which compelling fiction those kids developed around that doll. In another domain we observe that some TV series perform much better than the other ones available at the same time but nobody can predict which one will be the top rated.
- antonvs 3y ago
  Of course we also don't know whether the story was made up to support the author's point.

f_allwein 3y ago

Yes, it is also a really good painting - see for example „The Story of Art“ by E. H. Gombrich for an in-depth appreciation.

BelleOfTheBall 3y ago

The funny part is that, in another article on the subject, it's said that the Louvre had absolutely awful security back then: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/stolen-how-the-mona-lisa-became-the-worlds-most-famous-painting-16406234/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/stolen-how-the-m... With multiple art pieces being stolen, it's also partially a matter of luck and publicity that Mona Lisa was so singled out to become a legend.

brandall10 3y ago

It went from one of the most valuable paintings in the world (top 10-20 or so) to THE most valuable painting in the world. Its estimated value is nearly a billion dollars which is almost twice the value of the one in second place, the Salvator Mundi. Just saw it at the Louvre myself in June. It was wild how there was that somewhat long line w/ people jockeying for position at the front to take selfies with it.

imiric 3y ago

This is the basic psychological trait exploited by advertising. Show someone important, famous, or relatable, enjoying a product, and it creates a subconscious desire in other humans to enjoy the same thing. In this case, if the item is worth stealing, then surely it must be very valuable to someone, hence it should be valuable to everyone. This being a unique item, i.e. scarcity, pushes its value to astronomical heights. There's theoretically no limit to what someone is willing to pay or do to obtain such a piece. We see this all the time in the art world.

scyzoryk_xyz 3y ago

I remember there was also a bit about how once it went missing there weren't any photographs of it and only a very ecstatic description and some drawings. So it was also this curiosity that peaked the value.