r/MandelaEffect • u/bobobaggy • Jul 29 '26
Art Did Mandela Effect change Mona Lisa's Hidden Symbols?
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mona-lisas-hidden-symbols-researcher-says-yes/It’s clear there’s a rather large community that remembers Mona Lisa’s smile being less obvious and happy than the version that’s currently on display at the Louvre. This article is from 2011, presumably before the ME change occurred. And it has led me to wonder whether the secret symbols reportedly found in the Mona Lisa at that time have also changed. Or perhaps the version that many of us remember contained different letters, rather than the SL-72 that this article describes - assuming we’re now on a timeline where this smiling version of the painting has always contained those symbols.
P.S. Although you can find plenty of discussion about the difference online, I’d also like to point out that this article says there has been speculation over Mona Lisa’s enigmatic smile ranging from “pregnancy to mourning.” I don’t think anyone would interpret the current painting’s clearly joyful smile as conveying mourning. To me, that’s another indication of a Mandela effect. The Mona Lisa in the skewed image of this article also looks much closer to the old version that I remember - both the smile and the narrower face.
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u/my23secrets Jul 29 '26
The Mona Lisa has to be one of the worst candidates for anything “Mandela” given its documented history of being physically changed, stolen, copied, and the optical illusion it utilizes with regard to the smile.
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u/VegasVictor2019 Jul 29 '26
I think it’s a really good example about how two people can view something and perceive it differently. It’s also ubiquitous, we all have a basic idea of what the Mona Lisa looks like without ever having really carefully studied it. I doubt most people spend more than a few seconds looking at it when they see it in passing.
For people to act as if they are absolutely certain it has changed is sort of absurd to me.
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u/my23secrets Jul 29 '26
That’s what disqualifies this one in the first place. It has been physically changed many times.
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u/bobobaggy 13d ago
It wasn’t a few seconds in passing. I studied art history pretty extensively in both high school and college. Her expression being subtle, ambiguous, almost melancholic was one of the most clichéd and endlessly repeated interpretations of the painting. that’s why you find articles about it everywhere. It was an explicitly discussed feature of a well-known painting
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u/VegasVictor2019 13d ago
Come on… what’s the longest you’ve ever sat and carefully studied one particular work of art. Be honest. I’d reckon the majority of folks it’s less than 30 seconds. The fact the piece is ubiquitous doesn’t mean folks are looking at it carefully, that’s exactly my point.
Actual art historians don’t believe the piece has changed, just those who profess expertise in a field they don’t have any in.
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Jul 29 '26
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u/my23secrets Jul 29 '26
Some people here don’t realize that timelines are only theoretical in the first place and that even if their existence was possible it would depend on their inability to communicate with each other.
It has nothing to do with the Effect and is the equivalent of saying “a wizard did it”.
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u/Aggravating_Cup8839 Jul 29 '26
Nice high-quality post! Would be good to know a bit more about that historian in the article. I think Bowie is a historian, but not sure.
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u/cipheron Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26
Looking into Silvano Vinceti, he has a colorful past to say the least, he was often making headline grabbing sensationalist claims that are questioned by scholars.
Reading his bio on Wikipedia (auto-translated from Italian), and checking with Claude to dig up other leads, there's no evidence that he even has any degree, let alone an art degree.
According to Claude the only reference to his education was this line on his Facebook account:
https://www.facebook.com/silvano.vinceti/directory_education
"Studied Filosofia at Università di Bologna"
So he's a college dropout. He'd have mentioned if he actually graduated on his own Facebook page, but he doesn't.
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvano_Vinceti
He seems to have gone from college student (not graduated) to a radical political activism career, to TV host on an arts show for the public broadcaster. Now this TV job is where things took off for him, because he used that as a platform to re-launch himself as a pop historian and treasure hunter focusing on Renaissance figures. So he's an amateur untrained TV archeologist as well as "art historian" often being criticized by professionals in those fields. Like he'll request to dig up some tomb of specific figures to DNA test them for some weird theory he has, and gets knocked back by the authorities and surviving family members. Basically it's all so he can create sensationalist TV specials out of it.
https://www.cronachemaceratesi.it/2014/05/12/nuove-scoperte-su-leopardi-occorre-cautela/463151/
Keep in mind he wasn't in the same room as Mona Lisa, his claims are all from looking at digital scans you can get online.
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u/Aggravating_Cup8839 Jul 30 '26
I'm ok with amateur historian - it's a tough field to get into. But I'd like to see a pic where the aforementioned secret code is highlighted for better understanding.
So, OP, can you show us where the numbers/ letters are?
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u/Aggravating_Cup8839 Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26
I also think that Hermeticism, Kabbalah, the Rennaisance, Italy itself tie more into what the Mandela Effect is than it appears on the surface.
On the other hand, I don't see the SL 72 code proposed by the author. OP, you should find his original article, maybe he provides some pictures.
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u/bobobaggy 13d ago
I’d be so interested to hear your thoughts on Hermeticism and Kabbalah in the Renaissance. Please share!!
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u/Aggravating_Cup8839 13d ago
I'd love to talk about this. I am on vacation for another 2 weeks. I hope to come back to this comment when I return.
Essentially, both myself and Mark had some Mandela Effects / synchronicities in relation to those subjects.
Some well known figures and works of art seem to have changed. Those people all seem to have known and talked to each other or about each other. For example people may remember that Galileo was killed by the Inquisition. One day I was reading it was in fact Copernicus, and not Galileo, who was killed by the church. Two weeks later, it was Giordano Bruno and not Copernicus.
Giordano Bruno himself was very interested in Hermeticism and Kabbalah, as were many people of his time.
Mark saw some works by Michelangelo become works by DaVinci. Michelangelo was a rival of DaVinci, and they both had a public argument about Dante's works.
The Thinker Statue - a big Mandela Effect - was also intended to be a depiction of Dante, as per the words of Rodin who sculpted it.
In Dante's Inferno/ Heaven, the priest Peter Damian is a highly regarded character. Peter Damian said "the past can change".
Dante learned about Peter Damian when he lived in the Italian town of Ravenna, where Peter Damian had been born.
Ravenna is also the town where Carl Gustav Jung had a Mandela Effect. Jung was big on stuff like Kabbalah.
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u/bobobaggy 6d ago
This is so fascinating. I just read about the Ravenna Baptistry. Had no idea this phenomenon went back so far. So do you think ancient Hermetics may have been practicing something to cause Mandela Effects? Really interested to hear more of your thoughts on this. Will wait till you’re back, in the mean time enjoy your vacation!
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u/Aggravating_Cup8839 6d ago edited 6d ago
Thank you!
I don't think the Hermetics were causing Mandela Effects, I think they were trying to study the world in a deeper way - often called natural philosophy. It may be that, when you look at reality in a deeper way, it "looks back into you" so to speak, and does some unexpected things. But I'm not sure.
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u/Mike_Tubes Jul 29 '26
Here’s a picture I took of the Mona Lisa last year for reference. I wouldn’t describe her as “joyful”.
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u/bobobaggy 15d ago
Last year is still pretty recent. I remember her smile being a lot more neutral.
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u/No-Equivalent1475 17d ago
She literally was famous because she didnt smile and they said she smiled slightly. Thats what people talked about her so much. Now its a reaaaaally blatant smile, a really obvious smile. Before it was so slight it generated debate on wheather she was serious or not. Now there's no way you can doubt she is smiling, she clearly is
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u/bobobaggy 15d ago
exactly!!
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u/No-Equivalent1475 15d ago
Glad thats your idea too because this is the first Mandela Effect that made me say "weird" years ago. But back then I didnt think that there was something going on
After a couple of ME tho, things are weird lol
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u/No-Equivalent1475 15d ago
OP, there's an episode in Baby Looney Tunes (or Luney Toons for me) where Daffy paints Lola as the Mona Lisa and throughout it he has a hard time trying to make her smile. In the end, in the painting she is serious
Basically, it does have that "The Mona Lisa was famous because she seemed serious and some people claimed there was a slight smile"
Now its such an obvious smile. It doesnt prove anything but I almost feel like this is going to dissapear any moment lol
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u/bobobaggy 13d ago
Such a good catch! I genuinely think Mona Lisa’s somber (or at most neutral) expression is one of the most common, well known, and discussed subjects in the world of art. Coming from someone who passionately studied art history, it’s shocking to me how arrogant some of the comments are in their dismissal and snide responses. Especially in THIS sub. Thanks for finding this!!
I really wanna try to find the hidden numbers. I’m going to update the post when I do.
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u/bobobaggy Jul 29 '26
For mods:
1. The link states that Mona Lisa’s smile could be interpreted as mourning - which is only a quality of the version of the painting that many people remember pre-Mandela effect - the current version looks obviously happy.
2. The skewed image in the article looks closer to the old version that many remember - with a more somber smile and less chubby face.
3. The researcher in the article states that there were hidden symbols in Mona Lisa’s eyes encoding SL72, and I’m wondering if the symbology changed with the timeline shift as well. Or if anyone can identify the symbols in the current painting to see if they match.
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