The Mona Lisa painting is well-known in the world of art and history. The creator Leonardo da Vinci was indeed an Italian Renaissance leader who took art to another level. The Mona Lisa painting is considered the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, and the most imitated work of art in the world due to the enigmatic expression of the object and the atmospheric illusionism, kept in the Louvre. And now this museum has just offered several once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
The Louvre is off-limits to most visitors at present. Even so, a couple of people just bought themselves an experience which will never happen again. One person paid $98,000 to see the Mona Lisa outside of its protective case when it is detached for annual examinations.
The Mona Lisa viewing is one of the experiences that the Louvre museum has put up for auction. The other programs are a tour with Jean-Luc Martinez, the museum’s president, and director, a night visit of the museum, and a private concert in one of the halls once known as the Hall of Kings.
The Louvre launched its first auction ever to raise funds for new plans like the educational space dubbed Studio, opening next year. It auctioned off 24 items, including the Mona Lisa intimate viewing and as the reports have it, the auction managed to raise almost $2.9 million. The bidders who have won, have two years to collect their prizes.
Other interesting prizes were a Cartier bracelet which was sold for $110,000 and came with a viewing of the French crown jewels and a visit to Cartier’s jewelry workshops (time for some Ocean’s eight?). Works of art contributed by artists like Candida Hofer, Johan Creten, and Eva Jospin were also up for debate. Louis Vuitton also offered up the chance to create a custom fragrance for $37,000.