In the Louvre, the attraction is the Mona Lisa. The rest is undifferentiated art in the abstract." —Dean MacCannell, The Tourist: A New Theory of the Leisure Class
On April 6, 2005 at 2PM, The Salle des États, a large rectangular gallery in the Musée du Louvre reopened to the public after a four year, €4.8 million (6.1 million) renovation . The new hall was an upgrade from the smaller Salle Rosa, allowing the Mona Lisa to be now be appreciated in the context of 50+ great Italian Renaissance paintings including Paolo Veronese's Marriage at Cana. The irony of the situation is that despite the curator's best efforts, most visitors disregard the other paintings and the throngs of people continue to gather around only the Mona Lisa, their cameras and phones extended with outreached arms, flash bulbs firing. Add to that the fact that the renovation was funded by Japanese company Nippon, in response to the large number of Japanese tourists who come to view the Mona Lisa each year.
Though the Musée du Louvre is home to more than 35,000 works of rare and unusual bits of Greek and Egyptian antiquity, extensive halls of sculpture, paintings and prints, an estimated 80% of its 6.6 million annual visitors are there specifically to see the Mona Lisa. However, most regard the work solely through the viewfinder of their camera, pausing only long enough to snap a few photos as proof that they, too, have visited. In order to accommodate the desires of its visitors, the Louvre has placed several signs throughout its halls and on its printed material to direct wayward tourists toward the Mona Lisa. Sites like this exemplify the tourist gaze at work, where myth and a pervasiveness of imagery have affected our experience with the Louvre and its holdings. In response to tourist demand, the physical space of the Louvre has adjusted to meet the needs of the tourist.
Thank You for Visiting is a visual guestbook I created that explores the narrative of being in the room with the Mona Lisa. Photographs act as proof of one’s presence. They begin at a close range to the artwork and progressively recede back into the room. The book culminates in a series of souvenir portraits followed by lined pages to log visitor details.
