Asian Joconde: a Mystery of Another Smile Revealed!

Meet Asian Joconde: a painting by the famous Vietnamese artist Mai Trung Thu and its true version:

Mai Trung Thu, La Joconde. True version, 1974

Mai Trung Thu, (1906-1980, Vietnamese), La Joconde. True version, 1974

The artist studied painting in Paris, France, and stayed there from 1937 to 1974. He visited the Louvre many times and studied Leonardo’s masterpiece – the Mona Lisa. He spent years contemplating it, and then suddenly the revelation dazzled him: he understood the reason for Mona Lisa’s enigmatic smile! He understood that a kitty on the girl’s lap was the reason

And he started to create his masterpiece:

Mai Trung Thu, La Joconde. True version, detail

We, Zarathustra the Cat, sent back in time our little disciple, Tyger Blake the Kitten, to sit for the master with the beautiful Vietnamese lady

Tyger Blake in the true version of Mai Trung Thu’s Joconde

The face of Mai Trung Thu’s Joconde is less enigmatic and more relaxed than Leonardo’s Mona Lisa’s, all because the Vietnamese model is so happy with the artist’s revelation that allowed her to pet the cutest kitty and let him sleep on her belly.

Mai Trung Thu, La Joconde, close-up

But what happened with the painting then? Why we didn’t see the kitten in the lot of the painting at Christie’s?

Mai Trung Thu, La Joconde, 1974, private collection

Of course, it happened because of art critics of that time who blamed the artist for cultural appropriation and being a bad copyist. “Where do you see a cat in Leonardo’s masterpiece, eh? Go paint your fields of rice and don’t touch our Italian sfumato with your Asian ink colors” – these narrow-minded humans said. The artist wisely hid the painting from ignoramuses’ eyes until a better time.

Do you know that the New Lunar Year 2023 is a Year of the Rabbit everywhere except Vietnam where it’s the Year of the Cat?
This is exactly the right time for the true version to see the light!