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Now she’s really got something to smile about.
Mona Lisa is moving out of shared digs and into her own “special space” at the Louvre, French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Tuesday — with visiting Americans expected to help pay for the pricey upgrade.
The cost of relocating the world’s most famous work of art — designed to improve access and shorten wait times for viewing — will be funded in part by increased ticket fees for foreign tourists, who reportedly now make up about 80% of the Paris museum’s annual visitation.
Da Vinci’s iconic’ portrait will “be installed in a special space, accessible independently of the rest of the museum,” Macron said.
Moving the precious oil painting, dating back to the early 16th century, is one small part of a reportedly long-overdue renovation expected to cost over $800 million, according to one local news outlet.
Downplaying the eyebrow-raising estimate, Macron insisted that the project was “realistic and fully funded” — and wouldn’t cost French taxpayers a cent, depending instead on admissions, sponsorships and more.
The announcement comes on the heels of a widely-publicized leaked memo from the museum’s president-director to a French government official, detailing numerous structural and environmental issues said to be endangering many of the estimated 35,000 works currently in the world-class collection.
Some culture critics hailed news of the move, saying that the Mona Lisa has stolen the spotlight in the Salle des États, a room full of too-often-ignored art, for long enough.
“ People have just been coming to check their ‘I paid a visit to the Mona Lisa’ box,” Columbia professor of French and philosophy Souleymane Bachir Diagne told NPR.
“ And even if you go to that room with the intention of looking at the other paintings, you would be distracted by the Mona Lisa.”
Of the 9 million visitors in attendance last year, an estimated 80% were there solely for the smiling silk merchant’s wife, Quartz reported.
All-access admission to the museum currently costs about $23. Prices for non-European Union visitors will be hiked starting in early 2026.
Repeated attempts to deface the beloved depiction led to the painting being locked away under bulletproof glass as early as the 1950s.
One year ago, activists shocked museum goers by tossing soup at the painting to make a statement about climate change.
Back in 2022, another environmental activist tried to break through the protective barrier before throwing a cake.
“Think of the Earth,” he shouted amid the bizarre scene. “There are people who are destroying the Earth. Think about it, artists tell you, think of the Earth. That’s why I did this.”
