Whenever a question like this is asked people will post photos like The Vulture and the Little Girl or The Last Jew in Vinnitsa and while those photos are incredibly moving I believe the medium is much more than photographic depictions of tragic events.
My local museum actually has all 8 of their monets out at once for a change. There’s usually a few loaned out. And I was really struck by just how they complimented each other and just how much more
Powerful they were together. We must lose so much when we just see one work by an artist plucked out and put next to someone else. Unavoidable obviously but still losing something
Not particularly sad! Just tired! For reference these are After the ball 1899, and After breakfast 1890, two paintings with coincidentally similar names lol.
The Louvre dates the Mona Lisa to roughly 1503–1519, and Leonardo apparently kept the painting with him and continued working on it rather than simply completing and delivering it. I'm especially curious about what the historical evidence tells us, as opposed to the mythology that has grown up around the painting.
As an artist myself, I find that fascinating. Do art historians have a good understanding of why he continued returning to this particular painting for so long? Was it perfectionism, experimentation with technique, dissatisfaction with the work, or did the painting's purpose change for him over time?
I have a completely unsupported theory involving a succession of girlfriends and an artist who didn't want to start a new canvas. 😁