he Mona Lisa Was Stolen. Nobody Noticed for a Day.

In August 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre, and nobody noticed for more than a day. This is the true story of Vincenzo Peruggia, the handyman who walked out with her under his smock, and of how the theft made her the most famous painting in the world. A poet goes to jail. Pablo Picasso is questioned. Crowds queue to stare at an empty wall. And for twenty-eight months, the most famous smile in history lies hidden in a small room in Paris, until a letter signed "Leonardo" arrives in Florence. 00:00 The theft 01:07 The man in the white smock 02:27 More than a day 03:12 The empty wall 04:24 The trunk 06:00 Florence 07:35 The smile comes home 07:51 Today ▶ Watch next: How 50 Cousins Beat the Richest Man in France (Hermès vs LVMH):    • How 50 Cousins Beat the Richest Man in Fra...   ▶ The Orphan Who Built Rolex:    • The Orphan Who Built Rolex (And Why Nobody...   🔔 New documentaries on AntoDocs: the untold stories behind the people, ideas and creations that shaped the world. Sources (selection): Musée du Louvre (dossier pédagogique and texts on the Mona Lisa); Smithsonian Magazine; History Today; History.com; Slate; The Paris Review (2018); VQR (Kafka and Brod in Paris, 1911); Roger-Viollet archive; Finestre sull'Arte; The Mona Lisa Is Missing (J. Medeiros); Le Petit Parisien, 13 December 1913; Excelsior, 14 December 1913; AFP (Louvre, 2024–2026). Where sources disagree (how long Apollinaire was held, whether Peruggia had help, the date of his arrest), the film says so or uses wording true under every version. The 1932 "six fakes" story is presented as a legend; no evidence supports it. Photos and film (all public domain or Creative Commons): Paris police record of Vincenzo Peruggia, 1909 · Reconstruction photographs, Paris press (Excelsior), December 1913 · The empty wall in the Salon Carré, 1911 · Louis Béroud, La Copiste devant la Joconde (1909), Les Copistes (1909) and the Mona Lisa in the Salon Carré (1911) · Alexandre Brun, View of the Salon Carré (c. 1880) · Apollinaire and judge Drioux, September 1911 · Pablo Picasso, 1908 · Franz Kafka, 1910 (Atelier Schlosser & Wenisch) · La Domenica del Corriere, September 1911 · Iskry, St Petersburg, no. 31, 1911 · Nice Carnival, 1912 · Le Petit Parisien, 13 Dec 1913 · Excelsior, 14 Dec 1913 · L'Illustrazione Italiana, 21 Dec 1913 (the Mona Lisa at the Uffizi) · A train leaving Florence, 1913 (Edmund F. Arras) · The return to the Louvre, January 1914 · Back in the Louvre, 1914 (Spaarnestad Photo) · The Mona Lisa under guard in Italy, December 1913 · Giovanni Poggi, c. 1910 (Mario Nunes Vais) · Florence, c. 1910 (postcard) · Florence, Piazza Ognissanti, 1912 (Giacomo Brogi) · Photographs by Eugène Atget, Paris, c. 1905–1910, Bibliothèque nationale de France / Gallica and Musée Carnavalet: workers' rooms, rue de Romainville (1910); service staircases at 7 rue Beautreillis, rue de l'Estrapade, rue Poissonnière, rue Poulletier and rue Hautefeuille ("Escalier C"); the Porte Visconti, Quai du Louvre. Places of the period, not his own, labelled as such · A wooden trunk, c. 1900, U.S. House of Representatives collection (illustrative, not his trunk) · Piccadilly Circus, London, c. 1890–1900, photochrom, Library of Congress · Jacques-Louis David, Napoleon in His Study (1812) · Jean Clouet, Francis I (c. 1530) · Leonardo da Vinci, presumed self-portrait · Mona Lisa (C2RMF) · Colour autochromes of Paris, 1912–1918, by Auguste Léon and Stéphane Passet, Albert-Kahn Museum (CC0) · Archive film of the Louvre, 1918 (Lucien Le Saint, CC0) and 1923 (Camille Sauvageot, CC BY-SA 4.0), Albert-Kahn Museum · Excerpts from Nick Winter et le vol de la Joconde (Pathé, 1911) · Crowds at the Mona Lisa: Victor Grigas, 2014 (CC BY-SA 4.0), Julian Lupyan, 2026 (CC0) · Galerie d'Apollon: Wilfredor, 2024 (CC0); Jwslubbock, 2017 (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Journalists at the Louvre, 20 Oct 2025: Remi Mathis (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Lamborghini tractor: werktuigendagen (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Ferrari 250 GT SWB: Herranderssvensson (CC BY-SA 3.0). Images were cropped, toned and animated for this film. The handwritten letters, the six copies and the thumbprint on glass are illustrations, labelled on screen; the letters' wording is reconstructed. Archive film dated after 1911 is shown with its real year. Narration voices are synthetic. Music is original. Legal notice AntoDocs is an independent documentary channel, not affiliated with or endorsed by the Musée du Louvre or any person, brand or institution shown. Ferrari and Lamborghini are trademarks of their owners, used only to identify them. The people charged over the 2025 Louvre theft have not been tried and are presumed innocent; they are not named or shown. Facts as of October 2026. Spotted an error? Tell us in the comments and we will correct it and pin the correction. Next episode: a rich tractor maker, an angry visit to Enzo Ferrari, and one of the greatest rivalries on four wheels. #MonaLisa #Louvre #TrueStory