The Mona Lisa is arguably the most famous painting in the world, but its celebrity status is not solely due to Leonardo da Vinci’s masterful technique or the subject’s enigmatic smile. On the flip side, a significant portion of the portrait's global fame stems from a dramatic event in 1911: its theft from the Louvre. While popular culture often suggests the painting has been stolen multiple times, the historical reality is more nuanced. The Mona Lisa has been stolen once, in 1911, though it has been the target of numerous vandalism attempts and a high-profile wartime evacuation that sometimes gets conflated with theft in the public imagination.
The Great Theft of 1911: The Day the Masterpiece Vanished
On the morning of August 21, 1911, the Louvre Museum in Paris was closed to the public for its weekly maintenance day. In real terms, vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian handyman who had previously worked at the museum installing protective glass cases for paintings, entered the building wearing a white smock identical to those worn by museum employees. He knew the layout intimately That's the whole idea..
Peruggia waited until the Salon Carré, where the Mona Lisa hung, was empty of guards. He lifted the painting—frame and all—off the four iron pegs securing it to the wall. He carried it to a nearby service stairwell, removed the painting from its heavy frame (which he left behind), and hid the canvas under his smock. He then walked out of the museum, unnoticed, and took a taxi to his apartment That's the part that actually makes a difference. Simple as that..
The painting was not missed until the following morning, when a wealthy museum patron and amateur painter named Louis Béroud arrived to sketch the masterpiece. Finding only four iron pegs on the wall, he alerted the guard, who initially assumed the painting had been moved to the photography studio. And when it wasn't found there, panic ensued. The Louvre was shut down for a week, the French border was sealed, and a massive manhunt began Surprisingly effective..
The Investigation and False Leads
The investigation was chaotic and filled with dead ends. The Paris police, led by Inspector Louis Lépine, dusted the abandoned frame for fingerprints—a relatively new forensic technique at the time—but found only the prints of the workers who had installed the glass case months prior Still holds up..
Suspicion fell on the avant-garde art community. That's why Guillaume Apollinaire, a poet and art critic, was arrested because his former secretary, Honoré Joseph Géry Pieret, had previously stolen Iberian statuettes from the Louvre and sold them to Apollinaire’s friend, Pablo Picasso. Day to day, both men were brought in for questioning. Terrified, Picasso denied knowing the statues were stolen, and both were eventually released due to lack of evidence connecting them to the Mona Lisa.
For over two years, the painting’s whereabouts remained a mystery. Theories ranged from a master criminal mastermind to a nationalist plot to return the art to Italy. The empty space on the Louvre wall became a tourist attraction in itself; more people came to stare at the blank wall than had ever come to see the painting when it was hanging That's the part that actually makes a difference..
Easier said than done, but still worth knowing.
The Recovery in Florence
The saga concluded in December 1913. Peruggia, calling himself "Leonardo Vincenzo," contacted Alfredo Geri, an art dealer in Florence, Italy, offering to sell the Mona Lisa for 500,000 lire. He claimed he wanted to return the painting to its "true home" in Italy, believing Napoleon had stolen it (though the painting had actually been acquired legally by King Francis I of France after da Vinci's death) Worth keeping that in mind..
Geri, suspicious but intrigued, arranged a meeting at the Hotel Tripoli in Florence with the director of the Uffizi Gallery, Giovanni Poggi. Still, the experts authenticated it immediately. Peruggia pulled the painting from a false bottom in a wooden trunk. Peruggia was arrested by Italian police.
During his trial, Peruggia portrayed himself as a patriot. He served a mere seven months in prison (later reduced on appeal), and the painting toured Italy to great fanfare before being returned to the Louvre in January 1914. The theft transformed the Mona Lisa from a respected Renaissance portrait into a global icon Simple, but easy to overlook..
Wartime Evacuation: Not a Theft, But a Disappearance
A common misconception is that the Mona Lisa was stolen during World War II. Here's the thing — in reality, it was part of a massive, organized evacuation of French national treasures. As the German army advanced in 1939, the Louvre curators executed a secret plan to move thousands of artworks to châteaux in the French countryside Easy to understand, harder to ignore..
The Mona Lisa left the Louvre on August 28, 1939, packed in a custom-made, humidity-controlled crate marked with three red circles (indicating the highest priority). It traveled by ambulance—chosen for its smooth suspension—to the Château de Chambord. Over the next six years, it was moved five more times to stay ahead of the front lines: from Chambord to the Abbey of Loc-Dieu, then to the Musée Ingres in Montauban, and finally to the Château de Montal in 1943.
Throughout the occupation, the painting was hidden from the Nazis, who were systematically looting art across Europe. Practically speaking, thanks to the bravery of curators like Jacques Jaujard and Rose Valland, the Mona Lisa survived the war unscathed and returned to the Louvre in June 1945. While it was "missing" from public view for nearly six years, this was a protective measure, not a criminal theft Most people skip this — try not to..
Vandalism and Attacks: The Other Threats
While the painting has only been stolen once, it has been attacked multiple times. These incidents highlight why the portrait now lives behind bulletproof glass in a climate-controlled, sealed enclosure Took long enough..
- 1956 (Acid Attack): A vandal threw acid at the painting while it was on display in Montauban (during a temporary exhibition). The acid damaged the lower part of the canvas, specifically the area near the elbow and the landscape background. Restoration was difficult but successful.
- 1956 (Rock Throwing): Later that same year, a Bolivian man named Ugo Ungaza Villegas threw a rock at the portrait, shattering the glass case and chipping a small piece of pigment near the left elbow.
- 1974 (Red Paint): While on a rare loan to the Tokyo National Museum, a woman upset by the museum's disability access policies sprayed red paint at the painting. The bulletproof glass protected the canvas.
- 2009 (Teacup): A Russian woman, denied French citizenship, threw a ceramic teacup purchased at the museum gift shop. It smashed against the protective glass.
- 2022 (Cake): A man disguised as an elderly woman in a wheelchair smeared cake on the protective glass, shouting about climate change. The painting was unharmed.
Why the Confusion Exists
The question "How many times was the Mona Lisa stolen?" often yields answers ranging from one to three or more. This confusion usually stems from three sources:
- The 1911 Theft: The only confirmed, successful theft.
- The WWII Evacuation: Often mistaken for theft because the painting vanished from the museum for years.
- The "Duplicate" Theories: Conspiracy theories suggest the painting returned in 1914 was a forgery, and the real one was stolen again or sold privately. Art historians universally reject this; craquelure patterns and scientific analysis confirm the current painting is the original.
There was also a bizarre incident in 1911, immediately following the theft, where the Louvre's own director, Théophile Homolle, resigned, and the head of the Louvre's security was fired. In 1912, a man named Vincenzo Peruggia was caught, but prior to that,
