Faces everywhere
Eyes that follow you
Watch her eyes as you walk from one side of the screen to the other. Where is she looking?
At you, wherever you stand.
Why? She was painted looking straight at the painter. A flat picture looks the same from every side, so her eyes point straight out of it wherever you are; a real face would turn away from you. It’s called the Mona Lisa effect, though scientists found in 2019 that the Mona Lisa herself looks a little to your right. Johannes Vermeer painted this girl around 1665.
Picture: Johannes Vermeer, Public domain