Mona Lisa to Marge
How the World’s Greatest Artworks Entered Popular Culture
by Francesca Bonazzoli and Michele Robecchi
Preface by Maurizio Cattelan

Edited and produced by Debbie Bibo
Concept: Riccardo Bozzi
Design: Pitis
Cover design and layout: Bunker

This highly entertaining exploration of art, history, and commerce reveals how 30 masterpieces made the journey from image to icon.
How did paintings such as the Mona Lisa and The Scream achieve worldwide recognition? Why have The Thinker, The Great Wave, and American Gothic appeared on T-shirts and coffee mugs, on television shows and in advertising?  What makes some images so enormously successful that they transcend art to become touchstones of popular culture?
Mona Lisa to Marge tells the fascinating stories of thirty artistic masterpieces, from Myron's Discobolus to Magritte's Son of Man, and explains why each attained eternal fame. artistic Readers will learn how they were conceived, how they achieved cult status, and how interpretations have changed over time. An entertaining selection of other artworks, cartoons, ads, book and album covers, and merchandise inspired by the celebrated originals traces their transformation into timeless icons. 

Francesca Bonazzoli is a journalist and art historian. Since 1992 she has contributed to the major Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
Michele Robecchi is an art critic and curator. Based in London, he serves as an editor of books on contemporary art for Phaidon.

"Mona Lisa to Marge offers insights that are. . . thought-provoking, irreverent, and surprising."
Lurzer's International Archive

“Mona Lisa to Marge offers an exploration of the intersection between art, history, and commerce in a highly informative and entertaining way.”
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Read an interview with the authors on ArtPulse

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