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The Mona Lisa may be the world's most recognizable painting, but its physical construction is sometimes overlooked.
Leonardo da Vinci painted it on a wooden panel, not canvas.
More specifically, the support is made from poplar wood.
Leonardo applied extremely thin layers of paint to create subtle transitions between light and shadow.
This technique helped produce the soft, almost smoky appearance associated with his sfumato technique.
The Louvre dates the painting to roughly 1503–1519, meaning Leonardo may have continued working on it for years.
So one of history's most famous “paintings” is actually layers of oil paint sitting on a centuries-old piece of wood.
© Musée du Louvre
