By: Celina Cai

Visitors to Paris’ Louvre art museum rush by to take a look. One glance at the Mona Lisa, and they get it. Frosting, bread, sprinkles you name it. All over its special case. Who would do such a thing?

On May 29, 2022, a 36-year-old man disguised as an old woman in a wheelchair threw a piece of cake at the painting. Security guards took the man away as he spoke about the earth in French: “Think of the Earth! “he said. “There are people who are destroying the Earth! Think about it. Artists tell you: think of the Earth. That’s why I did this.”

The man was detained and sent to a psychiatric unit.

The Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo da Vinci between 1503 and 1519. The oil painting now hangs in the Louvre museum’s largest room. Surprisingly, this is not the first time the Mona Lisa ran into trouble. In 1960, there was accident in which a woman threw acid at the lower section of the painting. That is where the protective glass came in. It sure was useful here!

In 1911, the Mona Lisa disappeared from the museum. For more than two years, no one knew where it could be, until someone tried to sell the painting to an Italian art dealer. Now, the Mona Lisa is safe and sound back at its place in the Louvre. Who knows what will happen to her next?