Which artist created a famous parody of the Mona Lisa with a mustache?

Marcel Duchamp created the famous mustached parody of the Mona Lisa. He titled the work L.H.O.O.Q., a 1919 Dada artwork made by drawing facial hair onto a cheap postcard reproduction of Leonardo da Vinci's painting.

The piece was more than a visual joke. Duchamp used an ordinary mass-produced image and altered it by hand, challenging traditional ideas about originality, artistic skill, and what could count as art. This approach connected L.H.O.O.Q. to his broader concept of the “readymade,” in which an existing object is selected or modified and presented as art.

The title is also a pun. Pronounced in French, the letters resemble a vulgar phrase commonly translated as “She has a hot ass.” The deliberately provocative wording helped Duchamp mock the reverence surrounding the Mona Lisa and the institutions that treated famous artworks as untouchable cultural icons.

Andy Warhol, Salvador Dalí, and Pablo Picasso also reinterpreted famous images, but none created this particular mustached parody. Duchamp's work has appeared in multiple versions and reproductions, so surviving examples can differ in size and medium.