Isaacson: Leonardo designed the Mona Lisa's smile using optical science
Walter Isaacson · #121 Walter Isaacson: Curiosity Fuels Creativity · Oct 5, 2021 · at 39:15
Biographer Walter Isaacson describes how Leonardo da Vinci applied research into human ocular perception and light diffraction to paint the Mona Lisa's smile.
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“If you look at the very detail directly at the corner of the lips of the Mona Lisa, they actually aren't turned up. But as you move your head a little bit, and you catch the shadows and the colors better, the lips seem to turn up. So it becomes an interactive smile, all because of the scientific brilliance of Leonardo da Vinci, as well as his passion for perfecting the Mona Lisa.”
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