Do you know why the Mona Lisa was painted? Or how H.P. Lovecraft could make a reader imagine such terrible things using words only? For the average Joe, the answer is probably no. Luckily for you, this column is here to give you the answer and explore the most entertaining parts of history’s beloved art. This column will cover everything about weird, entertaining facts about famous artists, techniques that famous artists use, stories you may not know about certain artworks, and some advice from big artists given to smaller creators, like you. So let’s get back to the questions from the start.

The Mona Lisa; so inventive, so beautiful. But why would Leonardo da Vinci want to spend the last years of his life painting this? Did Leonardo da Vinci paint this just to brag about how much better he was at painting portraits?

Unfortunately, the real motives remain a mystery, as the Mona Lisa “was in his studio when he died in 1519″(Britannica). In other words, the Mona Lisa is, surprisingly, unfinished. However, many credible sources claim that the story behind the painting is a lot simpler, saying that the Mona Lisa is nothing more than a well-painted portrait for its time.

Despite being such a talented, skilled, renaissance man, da Vinci was still a man. He took so long working on the Mona Lisa because he was a procrastinator. Jessica Jacob, an anthropologist and writer for The Collector, said da Vinci was “known to stare at paintings of his for long periods of time, add one tiny brushstroke, and then walk out of the room.” This explains why da Vinci spent from 3 to 13 years painting this rather simple subject matter.

For over 500 years, the Mona Lisa has continued to amaze people, not from why it was made, but from how it was made. In the bigger picture, the painting’s backstory matters less than the techniques da Vinci used. Not every painting has to have a deep, underlying story, or message to be good, and the Mona Lisa shows that. The Mona Lisa is simply a beautifully made painting.