> it was absolutely wild to me how many people were just there for the Mona Lisa > It seems like such a waste for people to fawn over that one painting and pre

> it was absolutely wild to me how many people were just there for the Mona Lisa > It seems like such a waste for people to fawn over that one painting and pretty much ignore all the other masterpieces you can see there I think you're making the rather large assumption that everyone is into art in the first place, and thus find it surprising that they would fail to appreciate everything other than the Mona Lisa. In reality, I suspect a lot of folks just weren't going to go to the museum at all otherwise. They only go to see the Mona Lisa, not because they think it's a particularly magnificent piece of art, but simply because: (a) they don't want to look silly saying they visited Paris but didn't see the most famous painting in the world there, and/or (b) the whole world talks about it, and they naturally want to experience whatever it is, to maybe see what all the fuss is about. Such reasons are pretty natural, and have nothing whatsoever to do with the intrinsic merits of -- or appreciation of -- the Mona Lisa relative to whatever else is there. It could've just been a hole in the wall, and if it had been the most famous thing in the world, it would've prompted a similar reaction.