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Expedition · 6 missions

The Missing Masterpiece

Complete expedition · Free

On 21 August 1911 the Mona Lisa vanished from the Louvre. Follow the case from the empty wall to Florence, and learn to tell evidence from rumour.

Start mission 1 · free, about 12 minutes

6 missionsFollow the evidence, beyond the frame.

Paris · Florence · 1911–1914

Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa in the early sixteenth century.

Editorial illustration · not a historical source

  • Named sources

    Real people. Real records.

  • 6 missions

    A complete story, step by step.

  • Evidence over rumour

    Question. Compare. Think.

  • For curious minds

    Go deeper. See more.

The missions

Start with mission 1, then continue at your own pace.

  1. Mission 1 of 6Free

    The empty wall

    Explain why the day of a theft can differ from the day someone discovers it.

  2. Mission 2 of 6Free

    The wrong suspects

    Distinguish an arrest, a connection to an earlier theft and proof of this theft.

  3. Mission 3 of 6Free

    Two years of silence

    Put dated turning points in order without inventing events inside a long gap.

  4. Mission 4 of 6Free

    The trunk and the train

    Follow a supported movement while distinguishing testimony from a map reconstruction.

  5. Mission 5 of 6Free

    Stories that grew

    Distinguish a contradicted claim from a story lacking independent confirmation.

  6. Mission 6 of 6Free

    Why did he do it?

    Compare an attributed motive with actions and consequences without claiming access to a person’s mind.