Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase

One can say that this movie is pretty as picture. 'Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase' is wonderful short animation off 35 iconic art pieces melting and morphing into each other. Beautiful form of 2D clay animation (or clay painting) and wonderful music turns this short film into much more than just a collage and can definitely be appreciated even when you are not much of an art specialist. Just a beautiful movie. An art piece about art.

This short can also be used a sort of a game - how many paintings can you name?

'Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase' is wonderful short animation off 35 iconic art pieces melting and morphing into each other. Beautiful form of 2D clay animation (or clay painting) and wonderful music turns this short film into much more than just a collage and can definitely be appreciated even when you are not much of an art specialist. Just a beautiful movie. An art piece about art.

This short can also be used a sort of a game - how many paintings can you name?

This short film won an Academy Award for best animated short. It consists of a series of animated reproductions of major art works, primarily from the 20th century, and has an unusual technique for moving from one picture to another. I have been to most of the world's major art galleries. While I am certainly not an art historian, I was able to recognize a majority of the artists and the works portrayed. I was not able to recognize all of them, and I wish they had been labeled.

I recommend this film to anyone studying art or art history for a different twist on the subject matter. The movie is available on VHS from pyramid media, and it is overpriced.

My wife (an art major) and I saw this on PBS' series "The Territory", April 2006. As a hobbyist animator, I was very impressed by the "clay painting" technique (not really claymation, more 2D), and we both had fun trying to name the (many, many) iconic art works. Everything from Munch's "Scream" to Warhol's Marilyn.

The technique involved more or less continuous "morphing" from one work to another, but artistically done rather than much of the mindless photographic morphing. It gives the impression of a "chain of thought" type dream tour through a really good modern art museum.

Great stuff.

one of fascinating art lesson. for the meet of animation with masterpieces of universal history of art. for the fluid travel from a painting to the other. for a vertigo of colors. and for the nice manner for remind the force of image. in same measure, a pure history lesson . as reflection. about art, artists and about the technique use, who transforms the dreams in reality. after the end of film - the silence. because it is more than a game. but a window to the essence of our civilization. and this does it real, real great.