Many viewers who assumed it to be true after a viral TikTok joke about the Mona Lisa being stolen became perplexed.
A series of police cars are seen passing by what looks to be the Arc de Triomphe in TikTok, which was uploaded by a user going by the handle @narvanator. Text overlaid on top states, “POV: you’re in Paris when the Mona Lisa has been stolen.”
The video was posted four days ago and has already received 1.9 million likes in addition to more than 9 million plays.
Then @narvanator expanded on the joke by announcing in a subsequent TikTok that he had gone to the Louvre with his companions. He declared, “She’s left.” The Mona Lisa has vanished. We spoke to the staff there, and they can’t say anything.
The Mona Lisa, however, is still on display at the Louvre and was indeed created by Leonardo da Vinci. No rumors of the Mona Lisa’s theft have surfaced.
It goes without saying that the Mona Lisa was stolen once. This occurred in 1911 when an Italian handyman named Vincenzo Peruggia collaborated with two other people to steal the painting and carry it back to his native country. After making an unsuccessful attempt to sell it to a Florentine dealer, he was sentenced to six months in prison for stealing.