A popular TikTok joke about the theft of the Mona Lisa has confused many people

A popular TikTok joke about the theft of the Mona Lisa has confused many people

Selena Mattei | Jan 13, 2023 2 minutes read 0 comments
 

A joke TikTok about the Mona Lisa being stolen has gone viral, making many people confused because they thought it was real.

Louvre visitors crowding in front of the Mona Lisa © Max Fercondini via wikipedia

A user named @narvanator posted the TikTok, which shows a series of police cars driving by what looks like the Arc de Triomphe. "Point of View: You're in Paris when the Mona Lisa is stolen," says text on top. Since it was posted four days ago, more than 9 million people have watched and liked the video. Then @narvanator added to the joke by posting a second TikTok in which he said that he and his friends had been to the Louvre. He said, "She's gone." "The Mona Lisa has disappeared. We asked the people who work there, but they couldn't tell us anything."


But the Mona Lisa is still there. The painting by Leonardo da Vinci is still at the Louvre, where it has been shown for a long time. No one has said that the Mona Lisa has been stolen. The Mona Lisa was stolen once, but that was a long time ago. In 1911, an Italian handyman named Vincenzo Peruggia worked with two other people to steal the painting and take it back to Italy. He tried to sell it to a dealer in Florence, but he wasn't able to. He was sent to prison for six months for stealing it.

Over the years since then, the Mona Lisa has been attacked more than once. Last year, a cake was smeared all over it. Taking a cue from the original TikTok, some users pretended that a Peruggia-like figure had struck, bringing the painting back to Italy. One user posted a video of himself pretending to be a collector getting a call from a dealer about the Mona Lisa while standing in front of the Trevi Fountain in Rome. @narvanator stuck to the joke and posted a second TikTok in which he crossed off "MONA LISA GETS STOLEN" from his 2023 bingo card.

View More Articles

Artmajeur

Receive our newsletter for art lovers and collectors