The Mona Lisas
On 21 August 1911, the painting was stolen from the Louvre.[89] The painting was first missed the next day by painter Louis Béroud. After some confusion as to whether the painting was being photographed somewhere, the Louvre was closed for a week for investigation. French poet Guillaume Apollinaire came under suspicion and was arrested and imprisoned. Apollinaire implicated his friend Pablo Picasso, who was brought in for questioning. Both were later exonerated.[90][91] The real culprit was Louvre employee Vincenzo Peruggia, who had helped construct the painting's glass case.[92] He carried out the theft by entering the building during regular hours, hiding in a broom closet, and walking out with the painting hidden under his coat after the museum had closed.[25]
Vacant wall in the Louvre's Salon Carré after the painting was stolen in 1911
"La Joconde est Retrouvée" ("Mona Lisa is Found"), Le Petit Parisien, 13 December 1913
Peruggia was an Italian patriot who believed that Leonardo's painting should have been returned to an Italian museum.[93] Peruggia may have been motivated by an associate whose copies of the original would significantly rise in value after the painting's theft.[94] After having kept the Mona Lisa in his apartment for two years, Peruggia grew impatient and was caught when he attempted to sell it to Giovanni Poggi, director of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. It was exhibited in the Uffizi Gallery for over two weeks and returned to the Louvre on 4 January 1914.[95] Peruggia served six months in prison for the crime and was hailed for his patriotism in Italy.[91] A year after the theft, Saturday Evening Post journalist Karl Decker wrote that he met an alleged accomplice named Eduardo de Valfierno, who claimed to have masterminded the theft. Forger Yves Chaudron was to have created six copies of the painting to sell in the US while concealing the location of the original.[94] Decker published this account of the theft in 1932.[96]
Netflix movie Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery’s director Rian Johnson explained how he created a sequence that involves Mona Lisa's painting.
.. they were able to put together the replica of the painting knowing that replicas of classical work of arts are actually legally obligated to be destroyed and documented.
“We got a very talented, local Belgrade artist to do a recreation of the Mona Lisa and it was kind of extraordinary having it on set.
“I didn’t realize this, but if you get a recreation like this, you have to destroy them when you’re done filming, if it’s a famous work of art.”
“You actually have to document yourself burning the canvas because of the counterfeit market. Daniel was a bit worried that we were ‘killing the puppy’ by upsetting people as we destroyed the Mona Lisa.” He added.
Along with that, Johnson also discussed his love for a similar scene from a surprising source - Mr Bean.
“The scene in Bean where he destroys ‘Whistler’s Mother’ is one of the funniest scenes in cinematic history,