• A. The Night Watch
  • B. The Starry Night
  • C. La Gioconda (the Mona Lisa)
  • D. The Milkmaid

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The stolen artwork is probably the most famous painting in the world. It depicts a woman with an enigmatic smile and was painted by an Italian Renaissance master.

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The correct answer is C. La Gioconda (the Mona Lisa).

On August 21, 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre in Paris by an Italian glazier named Vincenzo Peruggia. He had hidden himself in the museum the evening before, waited until it closed, and calmly walked out the following morning with the painting tucked under his coat. The painting remained missing for no less than two years, until Peruggia was caught attempting to sell it to an art dealer in Florence.

📚 More background information

The Theft That Made the Mona Lisa World-Famous

It may sound almost unbelievable, but before 1911, the Mona Lisa was certainly respected among art connoisseurs — yet by no means the absolute icon it is today. The heist changed that forever.

How the theft unfolded

Vincenzo Peruggia worked as a glazier and had previously done odd jobs at the Louvre, where he helped install protective glass over paintings. He knew the corridors, the schedules, and the weak spots in the security. On the evening of August 20, 1911, he hid inside a closet, spent the night in the museum, lifted the painting off the wall, and walked out the following morning. Simple — almost too simple.

What followed was a media frenzy before the term even existed. French newspapers ran the story in bold headlines, and soon the entire world was talking about the vanished lady with the mysterious smile. People flocked to the Louvre in droves — not to view other works of art, but purely to see the empty space on the wall. That empty space. There they stood.

The suspects and the confusion

In the ensuing chaos, several people fell under suspicion, including the poet Guillaume Apollinaire and Pablo Picasso. Both were interrogated and released shortly afterward. And the real culprit? He was living quite comfortably in Paris throughout the entire investigation, with the painting hidden in a trunk under his bed. Whether that says more about Peruggia or about the detectives of the day, I’ll leave for you to decide.

His motive was remarkable: he genuinely believed the painting belonged in Italy. After all, Leonardo da Vinci was Italian, and Peruggia saw himself as a kind of patriotic liberator. Call it what you will.

In December 1913, he was caught in Florence after reaching out to an art dealer. He received just over a year in prison — a relatively lenient sentence, partly because the Italian court viewed his nationalistic motivation with a degree of sympathy.

The Mona Lisa today

The painting now hangs behind bulletproof glass in a dedicated room at the Louvre, drawing millions of visitors each year. What surprises many people is the size: it measures just 77 by 53 centimeters. You expect something grand, and instead you find yourself standing in front of something that would fit in an average IKEA bag. And yet, everyone holds up their phone.

For a pub quiz, this makes for a great question — because in hindsight the answer seems obvious, yet the year 1911 and the details surrounding the theft genuinely require knowledge. Exactly the kind of trivia that makes a night at the pub truly unforgettable.