Generally art is a product of human activity, made with the intention of stimulating the human senses as well as the human mind; by transmitting emotions and/or ideas and includes drawing, painting, sculpting, photography, performance art, dance, music, poetry, prose and theatre. The evaluation of art has become especially problematic since the 20th century. A cup, which ostensibly can be used as a container, may be considered art if intended solely as an ornament, while a painting may be deemed craft if mass-produced.

Art can describe several things: a study of creative skill, a process of using the creative skill, a product of the creative skill, or the audience’s experience with the creative skill.

Leonardo da Vinci began painting the Mona Lisa (right) in 1503 (during the Italian Renaissance) and, according to Vasari, "after he had lingered over it four years, left it unfinished...." He is thought to have continued to work on it for three years after he moved to France and to have finished it shortly before he died in 1519.

Mona Lisa is named for Lisa del Giocondo, a member of the Gherardini family of Florence and Tuscany and the wife of wealthy Florentine silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo. The painting was commissioned for their new home and to celebrate the birth of their second son, Andrea.