A project of painting the Mona Lisa in modern dress and as a full-length portrait will be an interesting way of bringing the Mona Lisa into the 21st Century. The face should remain as the original, but the hair and clothes should be given a modern touch. The changes can be serious or humorous. The essence of the original Mona Lisa will still remain, because the smile will be unaltered.
American artist Andy Warhol was famous for his screen print creations of famous people. A screen print of the Mona Lisa makes for a very colorful project. The color of the Mona Lisa's face should be different in each print, as should the color of her hair. There should be a collection of nine images made up of three rows of three. These individual prints can also be scanned onto a computer, and, with graphics software, manipulated with special effects.
The enigma that is the Mona Lisa is largely due to the almost shy smile. A recreation of the Mona Lisa, but this time with teeth, would be a nice twist on the original painting. The effect and change on the face of the Mona Lisa will be revelatory. The class can begin by drawing the Mona Lisa, then, when the drawing is accurate enough, begin painting over the drawn image.
Another project involving the Mona Lisa would be to give each student the task of painting the original, apart from the eyes. The Mona Lisa's original eyes should be replaced by the eyes of famous people, then the class should try to guess to whom the eyes belong. The eyes can be from personalities from the distant past up to current celebrities. A variation on this project can involve a computer. The eyes of the original Mona Lisa can be replaced by eyes of famous people taken from photographs.