Culture | Picture perfect

Is there such a thing as a classic?

A new book argues that the “timeless classic” is a critical creation

A person watches a giant screen showing Leonardo Da Vinci's portrait of Mona Lisa multiple times. — Photograph: Getty Images

Aug 20th 2024

After Taylor Swift, the “Mona Lisa” is probably the most recognisable female face in the world. Every day around 20,000 people gape at Leonardo da Vinci’s painting in the Louvre. Yet it became famous not because of a beguiling semi-smile, but a thief. Until a worker stole the masterpiece in 1911, it was still mostly unknown; viewers flooded in to see what a French newspaper called “an enormous, horrific, gaping void”.

This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Is there such a thing as a classic?”