“Got me a movie / I want you to know”: 15 musical works inspired by visual art

Nat King Cole’s iconic “Mona Lisa,” written by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston and inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci’s masterpiece, compares a beautiful woman with the mysterious subject of the portrait. But don’t be fooled into thinking the comparison is a compliment. At one point Cole asks whether the woman, like the picture, is a “cold and lonely work of art.” Originally written for a forgotten film, Captain Carey, U.S.A., the song has remained as an ode to enigmatic women, who, like the Mona Lisa, hide secrets behind their smiles.