"Apart from cer­tain stretch­es of absence, Leonar­do's Mona Lisa has been on dis­play at the Lou­vre for 228 years and count­ing. Though cre­at­ed by an Ital­ian in Italy, the paint­ing has long since been a part of French cul­ture. At some point, the rev­er­ence for La Joconde, as the Mona Lisa is local­ly known, reached such an inten­si­ty as to inspire the label Jocondisme. For Mar­cel Duchamp, it all seems to have been a bit much."
"A cen­tu­ry ago, this was a high­ly irrev­er­ent, even blas­phe­mous act, but also just what one might expect from the man who, a cou­ple years ear­li­er, signed a uri­nal and put it on dis­play in a gallery. Like the much-scru­ti­nized Foun­tain, L.H.O.O.Q. was one of Ducham­p's "ready­mades," or artis­tic provo­ca­tions exe­cut­ed by mod­i­fy­ing and re-con­tex­tu­al­iz­ing found objects. Nei­ther was sin­gu­lar: just as Duchamp signed mul­ti­ple uri­nals, he also drew (or did­n't draw) facial hair on mul­ti­ple Mona Lisa post­cards."
The Mona Lisa has been on display at the Louvre for over two centuries and has become firmly embedded in French culture as La Joconde, even inspiring the term Jocondisme. In 1919 Marcel Duchamp purchased a postcard reproduction, drew a mustache and goatee on it, and titled it L.H.O.O.Q., a pun whose French pronunciation ("Elle a chaud au cul") he rendered as "There is fire down below." The work operated as a readymade and a deliberate provocation comparable to Duchamp's Fountain. Duchamp produced multiple variations and authorized reproductions, later correcting omissions by hand.
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