Seven solutions to the Mona Lisa ‘problem’ – if it really makes a Louvre visit miserable, here’s what museum could do, social media users say

Art critic’s suggestion that Mona Lisa should be moved because of the crowds it draws at Paris museum drew a range of suggestions for what to do with painting

Move it to another French city, ban smartphones at Louvre, and put up fakes to create a Mona scavenger hunt were among some of the less silly ideas aired

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Tourists wait to see Leonardo da Vinci's painting Mona Lisa at the Louvre in Paris. An art critic has suggested the painting is a security hazard and “not even a satisfying bucket-list item”, and proposed it be moved, drawing a big response. Photo: AP

Published: 10:00pm, 12 Nov 2019Updated: 5:38pm, 13 Nov 2019

During every minute of the Louvre’s operating hours, tourists crowd en masse at the museum in Paris to see the world’s most famous painting in all its glory.

Hanging behind sealed bulletproof glass, the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci didn’t rise to meteoric fame until after it was stolen in 1911. Today, it draws millions of visitors annually. But many leave their visit underwhelmed.

Then came a hot take from Jason Farago, art critic for The New York Times. In a piece headlined “It’s Time to Take Down the Mona Lisa”, Farago calls the painting “a security hazard, an educational obstacle and not even a satisfying bucket-list item”, and calls for the oft-hailed masterpiece to be moved to a space built just for her.

Twitter erupted in a respective tweet storm, with the social media platform’s users firing off a range of responses. A lot of people seemed to have stopped reading at the headline and thought Farago wanted to do away with the painting completely.

The Mona Lisa on display at the Louvre Museum. Photo: EPA-EFE

Others sent their ideas – facetious fixes and solid suggestions alike – for how to improve the situation. Here are our seven favourite solutions, from the practical to the ludicrous.