The 'Mona Lisa' used to have eyebrows.

Arts & Culture

T here's a reason you've heard of a "Mona Lisa" smile but not "Mona Lisa" eyebrows: She doesn't have any. The world's most famous painting was created by Leonardo da Vinci at the beginning of the 16th century. That was, to put it mildly, a long time ago — long enough for Leonardo's painting to see some changes.

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By the Numbers

Size (in inches) of the "Mona Lisa"

30x20

Visitors the "Mona Lisa" receives per year

10 million

Did you know?

The "Mona Lisa" wasn't world-famous until it was stolen.

Though it's always been well regarded, the painting's level of fame was closer to its subject's expression for the first 400 years of its existence. That changed forever when the portrait was stolen from the Louvre in 1911, a sensational crime that led to Pablo Picasso being suspected of carrying out the heist. He didn't; it was actually a former Louvre employee named Vincenzo Perugia, who wanted to return the "Mona Lisa" to Italy. But the painting's profile rose astronomically in the more than two years it was missing. By 1919, the El Paso Herald referred to the heist as "the most colossal theft of modern times," and the painting had become the most colossal artwork of its time.