Overview

What happens when you spend an entire week standing in front of the world's most famous painting? During the strange days of the COVID lockdown, writer James Graeme Dove set himself a simple but radical challenge: to stand in front of the Mona Lisa in the Louvre Museum for one week. No phone. No camera. Just time, stillness, and a painting seen by millions every year. This short, vivid book is part art history, part personal experiment, and part cultural story. Along the way, it explores the myths of Leonardo da Vinci, the strange magnetism of the Renaissance masterpiece, and the way a single work of art can draw us back again and again. But this isn't a dry academic account. Written in an engaging, accessible style for new readers of art, the book opens up the mystery of why the Mona Lisa matters-not just to art lovers, but to anyone asking questions about time, beauty, and attention in the modern world. Perfect for: Students and young adults looking for an entry point into art history Readers curious about Paris, museums, and the enduring power of cultural icons Anyone who has ever stood in front of a painting and wondered what they were really looking at One Week with Mona is an invitation to slow down, look closer, and see the familiar with new eyes.

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9781036915612

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James Graeme-Dove is a writer and editor whose work explores attention, image, and cultural memory in the digital age. He spent twenty years in the contemporary art world, holding positions at various institutions including the Whitechapel Gallery and Artangel, before founding the editorial platform this is tomorrow. He writes for publishers including Phaidon, and his practice increasingly explores how embodied presence and symbolic gesture can respond to a culture of acceleration and distraction. One Week with Mona is the first in a series of quiet interventions into art history, memory, and meaning.thegreatunbinding.substack.com

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