Visitors find Mona Lisa’s enigmatic smile wider than ever in Wrexham

The world’s biggest Mona Lisa has been unveiled at the Eagles Meadow shopping centre in Wrexham. It is 50 times bigger than the 16th-century original by Leonardo da Vinci and covers 240 sq m (2,580 sq ft) — the equivalent area of 22 London buses. It is also double the size of a version painted by Rolf Harris in Edinburgh in 2005, which was the previous largest Mona Lisa. Visitors are allowed to touch the painting and can also get a bird’s eye view from a balcony above the artwork.
Katy Webster, an artist, was in charge of the community project which took 245 people, using 86 litres of paint, 987 hours to complete. She said: “It’s mind-blowing, but the smile is still as enigmatic as ever. It took over a week to do her face — everybody knows what it looks like so we had to make sure it was exactly right.
“Our version has a different style to the original because the paint is acrylic but I think it works well. This has been the best bit today — putting her together so we can see the Mona Lisa in all her glory. Because there’s a balcony overlooking our Mona Lisa people will have a spectacular view of her.
“It is really great that this project by Eagles Meadow Shopping Centre has brought art to the community with so many members of the local community involved in creating this amazing piece of art. It is really important for me that art is accessible and adorns public spaces, like this wonderful centre, instead of locked away in galleries.” Fine art graduate Jude Davies did 200 hours of work on the project and was barely able to contain her excitement. She said: “People see different things — the more you look, the more you see. I didn’t realise that she hasn’t got any eyebrows. On her face everything is blended in. Her smile changes depending on how and when you look at it. Her eyes seem to follow you wherever you’re standing.” Sections of the painting are being sold in aid of Hope House Children’s Hospice but it will be on display for two years before being broken up. Kevin Critchley, manager of the shopping centre, had the original idea for the giant painting. He said: “Our Mona Lisa has a lot of advantages over the original. It’s a lot bigger so she is much easier to see, admirers will not have to queue to make her acquaintance, there isn’t any entry charge to Eagles Meadow, and unlike the version in Paris you will be able to touch her.”
This week, scientists at the Institute of Neuroscience in Alicante, Spain, claimed to have solved the secret of the Mona Lisa’s smile. They discovered that the subject, Lisa Gherardini, is both smiling and not smiling — depending on which cells in the retina pick up the image and through which channel the image is transmitted in the brain. A member of the team, Luis Martinez Otero, said: “Sometimes one channel wins over the other and you see the smile, sometimes others take over and you don’t see the smile.”

1. Summary
In the Eagles Meadow Shopping Centre in Wrexham is the largest Mona Lisa painted on the floor. It’s made by 245 people and there are 86 litres of paint used on an area of 240 squared metres. Visitors can have an overview from a balcony. They are even allowed to touch the painting, comparing to the real piece in the Louvre in Paris where visitors are not allowed to touch it.

2. Why did you choose this text?
I’ve chosen this text because this autumn holiday I went to Paris. In Paris we’ve visited the Louvre. The largest national museum in France. Where I saw the Mona Lisa (also known as: La Gioconda). When I saw the head of the article, I was curious to the rest of the article. That’s why I’ve chosen this text.

3. Typical examples of vocabulary and style
Vocabulary
There is no difficult language used in the article. Of course there were words that I didn’t understand, for example: enigmatic, retina, acquaintance. But overall this was a text that I could understand well.

4. Type of text
This is a type of mass communication, namely a news report. It’s meant for a wide audience, namely all the readers of the Times. The writer of this text gives factual information about this large Mona Lisa.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6894525.ece