Mona and Me: Tourists Turn their Backs to Fine Art

We had a stopover in Paris in late September and spent an afternoon in the Louvre. Every visit has a mandatory stop in the salon where  La Gioconda (Mona Lisa to her friends) is displayed. We are used to finding hundreds of tourists gazing on the painting through their camera’s view finders, hoping to get a shot of the top of the painting above the dozens of other tourists ahead of them with their cameras. This year, we found a new phenomenon. A significant number of tourists spend their time facing away from the Mona Lisa so they can include her in selfies. Great art inspires!