A hidden painting by a mysterious woman was found at De Loer under one of Pablo Picasso's earliest works from his blue period, experts have unveiled.
Conservators of the Courtauld Institute of Art in London made the incredible discovery after the use of specialized X -rays and infrared image in the portrait of Mateu Fernáins de Soto, prior to the painting that was shown in a new exhibition that was opened yesterday (Friday).
Experts have speculated who could be the mysterious woman, with theories ranging from a posed model to a friend, a woman sitting in a bar – or even a lover.
The painting, which was completed in 1901, while Picasso was only 19 years old, shows his Spanish sculpture friend who lived with him in Paris at the time – and it is important to show the changing style of the artist.
Picasso had begun to leave the more colorful paintings of the impressionists to what experts describe as 'a clearly more melancholic artistic style' known as his blue period.
The more contemplative approach with tones of blue was partly inspired by the death of the Spanish painter Carlo Casagemas, a good friend of Picasso, who took his own life earlier that year.
After the death of Casagemas, Picasso moved to his rooms in the French capital and put his studio on it.
Fans of sharp eyes of Picasso will notice the artwork on the wall in the background of the portrait of Mateu Fernández de Soto is one of Picasso's memorial paintings of the funeral of CasaMegas.
A hidden painting of a mysterious woman was found on the lurking under the portrait of Mateu Fernández de Soto, one of Pablo Picasso's earliest works from his blue period
Conservators of the Courtauld Institute of Art in London made the incredible discovery after using specialized X -ray image on the 1901 painting
The painting, which was completed in 1901, while Picasso was only 19 years old, shows his Spanish sculpture friend who lived with him in Paris at the time. Depicted: the artist in the 1920s
But experts are now enthusiastic about what is on Canvas under the oil painting.
Probably only a few months earlier created, the portrait of women shows a sitting figure who wears a distinctive chignon hairstyle, which was fashionable in Paris at the time.
The shape of her head, curved shoulders and fingers can also be seen clearly.
Art specialists have pointed to similarities between the figure and various paintings of sitting women who made Picasso that year, such as Absint -Drinker in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia and Woman with crossed arms, to be seen in the Kunstmuseum in Basel, Switzerland.
Some speculate that Picasso had started the painting in more impressionist style, as can be seen in his artwork, Waiting, which hangs in the Picasso Museum in Barcelona, ​​Spain.
There are also indications for a further head at a lower level in the painting, which suggests that he may have started many times on the same canvas.
Picasso often reused his canvases because he didn't have the money to buy new ones.
But he also embraced the process of painting one work above the other, resisting whitewashing of old images for starting a new figure directly on top of an earlier one.
At the time of completing the portrait, Picasso had started to leave colorful impressionism to what experts describe as 'a clearly more melancholic artistic style' known as his blue period
Art specialists have pointed to similarities between the hidden figure and various paintings of sitting women who made Picasso that year, such as Absint Drinker (right) and women with crossed arms (left)
Some speculate that Picasso had started the painting in more impressionistic style, as can be seen in his artwork, Waiting, which hangs in the Picasso Museum in Barcelona, ​​Spain
Hidden images were previously found under the artworks of Picasso.
In 2023, curators who worked together with the Guggenheim Museum in New York discovered a small dog hidden under the painted surface of Le Moulin de la Galette.
In the meantime, a secret Picasso sketch was found hidden in 2020 under one of his famous works of art after experts from the Art Institute of Chicago used röntgenscans to investigate wrinkles on the canvas.
The drawing, which seems to show a pitcher, cup and newspaper on a chair, was scribbled on the back of the canvas used for his still Life from 1922.
An analysis of a painting in 2018 unveiled a landscape in a completely different style to lie Picasso's under his oil painting from 1902 The squatted beggar (La Misereuse battery), which suggests that he had painted over the work of another artist.
Art experts also found a man with an arch -bound man with his face hidden on his hand under the artwork of Picasso, The Blue Room, in 2014.
Kerstin Richter, director of the Oskar Reinhart Collection 'Am Römerholz', who borrowed the painting for the exhibition, said: 'This is really an image of great complexity that reveals its secrets over the years.
'When Oskar Reinhart acquired it in 1935, it was simply considered a portrait of an unknown woodcailer.
The senior painting curator of Guggenheim, Julie Barten, helped to discover a small dog hidden under the painted surface of Picasso's artwork Le Moulin de la Galette
A hidden picasso sketch (photo) discovered in 2020 seems to show a big pitcher, cup and newspaper that all rest on a chair
The drawing was scribbled on the back of the canvas used for his 1922 summary summary in 1922
An analysis of a painting in 2018 unveiled a landscape in a completely different style than Picasso's that lay under his oil painting from 1902 the squatted beggar (La Misereuse battery), suggesting that he had painted over the work of another artist
This is a scan of the landscape hidden under the visible surface
“Now we not only know the personality depicted, his meaning in Picasso's life after the death of his best friend, but we can also visualize the artistic development process of the young painting layer per layer.”
Barnaby Wright, deputy head of the Courtauld Gallery, said: 'We have long suspected that another painting was behind the portrait of the soto because the surface of the work has meaningful markings and textures of something below.
'Picasso's way of working to transform one image into another and to be a stylistic shapeshifter, would become a decisive characteristic of his art, making it one of the gigantic figures of art history. Everything that starts with a painting like this. '
