There are many subjective theories of why it's so famous -- because of the mysterious smile, because of mathematical perfection of the ratios of lengths in the painting, and so on
Personally I like the theory that the main reason Mona Lisa's fame is because Leonardo was especially fond of it, and promoted it heavily, taking it to many exhibitions during his time
Since when is famous art NSWF? If you can't look at a painting of a naked woman or a statue of a naked man without feeling like you should be in private, then there's something wrong. It's art, not porn.
To be honest I've never really understood the whole "it's art, not porn". The only real difference is whether you wack off to it or not. Don't get me wrong I know art takes a lot of effort, and creativity, but art is in the eye of the beholder right?
You can whack off to thoughts contrived on your very own without external stimuli. And what some would consider "porn" (or something that instigates sexual thought) is relative to culture, upbringing and lifestyle standards.
The phrase "It's art, not porn" works for a very simple reason. Pornography is created with the very specific intent of sexually arousing someone. Art is not. A photographer may photograph a nude woman because the curves of her body create very dynamic shadows under tightly controlled lighting, as well as show shapes that are unlike any other in nature. He does not press the shutter button thinking "Someone will masturbate to this. He does it to capture beauty in it's natural form. This makes it art, even if her nipples or vagina is clearly visible. Whether you masturbate to it or not does not determine it's classification.
First it says that the pose was relaxed and revolutionary for its time as most were profiles, and shows a collection of contemporary upper body, profile portraits, and then almost straight after it says that the close cropped nature was also revolutionary as most portraits were full length, even though all the ones they just showed were MORE cropped than the Mona Lisa
...oh yea and I'm sick of Freud trying to loop all of mankind into his sick mother-loving fetishes.
let's see you half-smile with my balls in your mouth"
*jumps the painting*
Lance Armstrong, super-president of France.
Personally I like the theory that the main reason Mona Lisa's fame is because Leonardo was especially fond of it, and promoted it heavily, taking it to many exhibitions during his time
By that logic, Goatse is a supreme work of art.
Are you insinuating the contrary? Its the Mona lisa of our time, clearly.
Pornography is created with the very specific intent of sexually arousing someone.
Art is not. A photographer may photograph a nude woman because the curves of her body create very dynamic shadows under tightly controlled lighting, as well as show shapes that are unlike any other in nature. He does not press the shutter button thinking "Someone will masturbate to this.
He does it to capture beauty in it's natural form. This makes it art, even if her nipples or vagina is clearly visible. Whether you masturbate to it or not does not determine it's classification.
First it says that the pose was relaxed and revolutionary for its time as most were profiles, and shows a collection of contemporary upper body, profile portraits, and then almost straight after it says that the close cropped nature was also revolutionary as most portraits were full length, even though all the ones they just showed were MORE cropped than the Mona Lisa