When the Mona Lisa Disappeared: The Greatest Art Heist in History
By Hafid Assaoui · 2026-04-02
In 1911, the Mona Lisa vanished from the Louvre for two years. Our guide-conférencier tells the full story — and why the theft made her the most famous painting in the world.
On the morning of August 22, 1911, a Louvre employee named Picquet entered the Salon Carré to do some touching-up work on one of the paintings. He noticed the room looked slightly different. After a moment, he identified the problem. There was an empty hook on the wall where, the day before, the Mona Lisa had hung. He assumed it had been taken to be photographed — a routine occurrence. It was not until later that morning, when the museum's pho…