Scheduled for release in France at the end of January 2024, the novel by art historian, essayist, professor, and director of the Hartung-Bergman Foundation, has taken the book market by storm, with rights sold in 27 languages even before publication.
Published by Presença in Portugal, the novel tells the story of Mona, a ten-year-old girl on the brink of losing her sight. Her grandfather takes her on weekly visits to Parisian museums such as the Louvre, Orsay, and Beaubourg, where they explore a work of art—52 in total over a year.
The concept stems from the grandfather’s plan to show his granddaughter all the beauty of the world before she loses her vision forever. He takes her to see one piece of art every Wednesday after school.
During these museum visits in Paris, Mona and her grandfather engage in open reflections and experience various emotions in front of paintings or sculptures by artists such as Botticelli, Vermeer, Goya, and Courbet, offering a profound exploration of art and the human condition, as noted by the publisher.
Each piece serves as a starting point for discussions on themes like generosity, doubt, melancholy, and autonomy, giving Mona a deeper understanding of the world before her sight fades completely.
‘The Eyes of Mona’ has been widely praised by critics, who emphasize the relationship between granddaughter and grandfather as an exemplary transmission of knowledge and love for art, allowing the reader to rediscover masterpieces through a child’s perspective, according to the French press.
The publication Babelio highlights the narrative structure, which invites readers on an educational journey where each artwork becomes a springboard for discussions on history, technique, and artistic context, using Mona’s relationship with her grandfather as an illustration of sensitive and effective knowledge transmission, emphasizing the importance of learning to see and appreciate art contemplatively.
In an interview with Beaux Arts magazine, Thomas Schlesser, who spent a decade writing this book, shared that the inspiration came from a personal event that unsettled him, which he referred to as a child’s “non-event.”
“That led me to want to invent an ideal girl ten years ago. The idea of introducing life through art then became obvious. Although I am and remain an art historian, I did not set out to write an exhaustive art history (…). This is primarily a work of fiction where art is narrated in a highly subjective way through the grandfather’s character,” he explained.
The author also shared that to select the 52 artworks included in the story, he initially compiled a list of around one hundred, ultimately choosing based on their coherence with Henry’s character (the grandfather) and the plot’s development.
“However, this book’s invitation is not to go to the Louvre or the Beaubourg, but to realize that hundreds of stories can be found anywhere, including in natural history museums and museums of popular traditions, and in car museums,” he emphasized.
As the author himself states, “The Eyes of Mona” covers a wide range of themes, from philosophy to history, including psychoanalysis and literature.
The story represents “an introduction to life through art, and life is more about emotions, big political issues, philosophy…”.
“A moral dilemma arises every time one of the 52 artworks is addressed, but it’s not the art that speaks for itself; it’s art that speaks about all the components of life,” he explains.
The novel is divided into three parts: Louvre, Orsay, and Centro Pompidou (Beaubourg).
In the first section, covering 19 artworks, the narrative includes names such as Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Titian, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Canaletto, Jacques-Louis David, Goya, and William Turner.
In the second, the protagonists explore pieces by Courbet, Henri Fantin-Latour, Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, Degas, Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, Claudel, Klimt, and Mondrian, totaling 15 artworks.
The final section examines 18 artworks by artists including Kandinsky, Duchamp, Georgia O’Keeffe, Magritte, Frida Kahlo, Picasso, Pollock, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Marina Abramović.
Despite critical acclaim, ‘The Eyes of Mona’ has faced accusations from more conservative circles of harboring “a possible ideological agenda,” as suggested by the French conservative-right Boulevard Voltaire website, which in an article implies that beneath the guise of an art initiation novel, the book might be interpreted as advocating euthanasia and addressing topics such as feminism and abortion.
The novel has already sold over 160,000 copies, has been translated into 37 languages, and is set to be adapted into a film.
