Happiness: 83%, disgust: 9%, fear: 6%, anger 2%... Mona Lisa’s secret

THE mysterious half-smile that has intrigued viewers of the Mona Lisa for centuries isn’t really that difficult to interpret, Dutch researchers said yesterday.

She was smiling because she was happy - 83% happy, to be exact, according to scientists from the University of Amsterdam.

In what they viewed as a fun demonstration of technology rather than a serious experiment, the researchers scanned a reproduction of the painting and subjected it to cutting-edge “emotion recognition” software, developed with the University of Illinois.