A famous artist dubbed the next Andy Warhol has claimed he is having a sexual relationship with the Mona Lisa.
Spanish-born Domingo Zapata said he has been obsessed with the artwork for over a decade and dreams about having sex with the woman in the 1503 painting, which he uses as the basis for many of his iconic reinterpretations.
The 47-year-old rose to fame with his digital takes on the Mona Lisa which have sold for millions of pounds and are also being displayed in The Louvre in Paris.
Domingo, one of Leonardo DiCaprio's favourite artists, claims his success is down to the intimate bond he has formed with the painting.
He told The Sun : "I have been working with Mona Lisa for 15 years. When I was painting her so much, I would dream and I have a sexual relationship with her.
"You cannot stop where it's taking you. As an artist the relationship with the canvas is intimate. The more you open up, the more risk the more you take - the more you express yourself.
"It does become an obsession when you are into a topic and you want to explore it more and more."
Domingo said even Pablo Picasso's granddaughter asked him about his obsession with the painting.
"Diana Picasso - Picasso's granddaughter, who is an art expert and a good friend of mine, asked me in the studio: 'Are you dreaming about her, are you having sex with her?'" he said.
"And I'm like: 'Of course I am having sex with her in my dreams. If I was not having sex with her I would have quit a long time ago."
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He added: "It is almost one of those toxic relationships that never goes away.
"You keep going back to it and you cannot move on even after 100 versions. I am working on one right now. It's a mess."
The artist said he noticed similarities between his own creative journey and da Vinci's, given that da Vinci also tried to perfect his painting for years but never actually finished it.
"He tried it many times, but he wasn't convinced about this piece ever. Mona Lisa got to him, like it got to everyone else - me included," said Domingo.
"Maybe it is meant to be unfinished."
Domingo, who lives in New York, has accumulated fans around the globe including celebrities such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Johnny Depp.
But when The Louvre asked to display 26 of his interpretations alongside da Vinci's masterpiece Domingo said he initially thought it was "a joke".
Still coming to terms with his own success, he said he got physically sick when he heard that his latest Mona Lisa sold for more than $1 million in St. Barts, with DiCaprio narrowly missing out in the bidding.
"After the hammer landed, everybody came to take a picture and say congratulations," said Domingo.
"But I was so nervous I threw up on myself. I used a napkin to cover my shirt, ran to the pool shower where I took my tuxedo off and left my shirt on.
"It is like you winning an Oscar and throwing up when you give the speech."
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