Joconde II
1996
- Medium
- nylon stocking, oil on composition board
- Measurements
- 23.2 × 21.6 cm
- Place/s of Execution
- Fitzroy, Melbourne, Victoria
- Accession Number
- DC19-1996
- Department
- Contemporary Art
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Margaret Stewart Endowment, 1996
© Vera Möller/Licensed by Copyright Agency, Australia - Gallery location
- Not on display
- About this work
-
La Joconde is the French title for Leonardo da Vinci’s painting Mona Lisa, c. 1503–06 (The Louvre, Paris). The word is a play on the surname of the subject, Lisa del Giocondo, which is similar to the Italian word gioconda, meaning jocund or joyous, and refers to her enigmatic smile. The reckless irreverence of Vera Möller’s work is achieved by stretching women’s stockings over board, suggesting a refusal to adhere to women’s traditional reserved and polite demeanour. By invoking the wry smile of the Mona Lisa, Möller suggests that women have always used humour and subtle subversion to resist oppression.