Abstract

People looking at Mona Lisa believe that she looks at them from every direction they will look at her However in a numerical survey I have conducted that has never been done before 500 people were asked to look at her from right front and left sides The results negate the well-known myth that Mona Lisa looks at the observer from all directions viewed where only 65 confirm that she was looking at them from all directions Likewise 93 confirmed that Mona Lisa was looking at them while viewing at her from right 72 when viewing at her from front and 78 when viewing at her from left The illustration demonstrates what they observer as seen from each direction A thorough analysis of the subject brought me to extend and formulate a principle that I named Mona Lisa s gaze principle which fits each element in a picture - portrait wall in a construction details in a landscape and the like This principle guides also people how to look at pictures According to this principle If you look at any detail in a picture and this detail turns to you from certain direction it will turn to you from each direction you view it from right from front from left from above and from below However if from your looking direction the element does not turn to you it will never turn to you Hence I suggest to an observer of every picture