Mona by Sara Kissing
Explore Mondoir Studio
Medium: Acrylic, 24-Karat Gold Leaf, Markers, Epoxy Resin
Dimensions: 30 x 40 in
Year: 2025
Price: $7900.00 USD
Status: available
Mona Lisa — “The Royal Smile” Part of my Royal Treatment Collection, exhibited at Red Dot Miami in 2025, The Royal Smile reimagines Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa as contemporary pop-art royalty. At the center is one of the most recognizable faces in art history, crowned and surrounded by layers of handwritten typography, symbols, numbers and references that tell the story behind the masterpiece. The painting incorporates Leonardo da Vinci’s name and history, references to the Italian Renaissance, the Mona Lisa’s French title La Joconde, and details connecting the work to its home at the Musée du Louvre in Paris, including the museum’s address. The mysterious smile that has fascinated viewers for more than five centuries becomes the focal point of the story. “The Royal Smile” is written boldly across the composition, while repeated references to Mona Lisa, Paris, love, creativity and the Louvre transform the historical portrait into a layered contemporary narrative. The work also plays with the collision of Renaissance history and modern visual culture. Barcodes, graffiti-like marks, crowns, lips, numbers and expressive typography surround Leonardo’s iconic subject, inviting the viewer to discover new details each time they look at the painting. Created in my signature mixed-media pop-art style, the work combines expressive painting, typography, collage-like imagery and metallic accents to celebrate not only the Mona Lisa herself, but also Leonardo da Vinci’s extraordinary legacy and the enduring cultural fascination surrounding his most famous painting. The original artwork is presented in a gallery-style gold frame, extending the concept of the Royal Treatment Collection beyond the canvas and giving this contemporary interpretation of the Mona Lisa its own modern royal setting.
Why collect this work?
A familiar Renaissance face is made to compete with a dense field of contemporary signs, turning recognition itself into the painting’s central subject.
- Kissing states that her words, numbers and symbols relate directly to each subject. Here, references to La Joconde, the Louvre, Paris and Leonardo frame the portrait through its accumulated cultural record.
- The crowned face holds the center, but oversized lettering, lips, numbers and barcode motifs repeatedly interrupt its authority. “The Royal Smile” crosses the figure like a headline, recasting the sitter as a branded public icon.
- Catalogue metadata identifies acrylic, markers, 24-karat gold leaf and epoxy resin. These materials permit sharp shifts between handwriting, broad painted shapes and reflective accents, although the photograph cannot establish their exact surface effects.
- In a display about reproductions of canonical artworks, Mona can sharpen discussion of how museums, labels, addresses and commercial graphics help an image circulate beyond its original historical setting.
About the Artist
Sara Kissing
Sara Kissing is an artist on Mondoir Studio. Artistic discipline: painting. Based in Naples, US.
Nationality: German
I create visual stories.
