Mona Lisa Smile

Leonardo Da Vinci’s portrait of the wife of a Florentine cloth merchant might have been painted in Italy in the early 1500s, but its impact still reverberates in classrooms at Penn View in 2015!

Posted prominently on the front wall of the elementary art room is a poster of the famous Mona Lisa. 

Teacher Mrs. Kim Bergey is seen here telling some of the kindergarten students how the Mona Lisa behaves. With an appropriate measure of awe, she reminds them, “Good art students listen like the Mona Lisa!  Their eyes are watching the teacher, their mouths have quiet smiles, and their hands are still.” 

At her words, fourteen small artists immediately stop what they are doing.  Like clockwork they fold their hands like the lady in the painting and assume a silent agreeable pose.  

No doubt about it, Mrs. Bergey is brilliant.

Showing me the Mona Lisa instructions on the wall.

News travels fast and at least one of the other elementary school teachers has received the painted lady pose idea with so much admiration, she has adopted it for use in her classroom as well. 

Art students were happily working on pointillism snow globes when I stopped by the art room to discover more about the celebrated portrait stance I’d been hearing so much about.

Some of the kindergartners were happy to show me their Mona Lisa poses. 

What a resourceful way to get our wonderfully wiggly students to pause for a moment of instruction and to teach them a little art history at the same time!

In fact, the next time I want my husband to listen more attentively to the Honey-do list I so generously and helpfully provide for him, I'm going to suggest he give the Mona Lisa pose a try. I am relatively certain the "quiet smile" part will include a tongue protest and the carefully controlled hands might evolve into flapping motions (as our wonderfully theatrical Paul Reichley demonstrates so convincingly below.)  But it's certainly worth a shot.