I could just be an ignorant buffoon but I've never got what's so great about the Mona Lisa and her "smile". To me it's just a portrait with no more or lesser value than others of it's time frame or earlier. It seems to have this Emperors Clothes mystique about it that I've listened and read about for years.
There are a few things about it, a google search would probably provide better answers. 1 was the way he did it was different than any way artists had done portraits before, so it kinda changed the game on how everybody did them from then on because his way was so much more lifelike (no idea what the style was called or how it made it more lifelike). 2 was how realistic and dynamic her face is. Her eyes follow you anywhere in the room, and at first glance you might think she looks happy, then a second glance and she might look more stern, etc. The painting doesn't change, but how you view it can change.
But like I said, google would probably give you the actual terms for these things and better explanations
But like I said, google would probably give you the actual terms for these things and better explanations