My MONA LISA is not supposed to be pretentious of Leonardo Da Vinci's fine masterpiece. I just tried to produce a valid alternative to the world's most famous work of art, and render it in my favourite style.

The most difficult part was to recreate the infamous smiling, sad eyes and lips that have for long been an unsolved enigma. In fact, everything was an enormous challenge, ranging from the model's stance to the background and the unique chromatic attributes originally used by Leonardo.

My painting is not an exercise in copying; but should be solely regarded as a courageous cubist interpretation of a perhaps unreachable subject. In this way, my biggest satisfaction is when viewers blurt out the words “Mona Lisa” before actually reading the title!

Keith Balzan

 

Related Paintings: THE MODEL