Ways of seeing
Her enigmatic expression has been the topic of artistic debate for hundreds of years. But the reason the Mona Lisa’s mouth — part smile, part pursed lip — is so confounding has to do with the eyes, according to one Harvard scientist. More specifically, Leonardo da Vinci’s 14th-century masterpiece beguiles observers because of the way their gaze jumps around the picture — from the Mona Lisa’s mouth, to her eyes, to her forehead. Where a person focuses his or her eyes determines the extent of the subject’s smile, said Margaret Livingstone during a recent talk. While many art historians argue that the puzzling effect appears because the Mona Lisa’s “smile is blurry,” Livingstone contends it’s because of a fundamental difference between a person’s central and peripheral vision. “If you look at her eyes and then look at her mouth, doesn’t she seem cheerier when you are looking at her eyes?” Livingstone asked the...