“Patch of Grass” by Vincent van Gogh
At first glance, Vincent van Gogh’s “Patch of Grass” looks simple enough. It looks like grass sprinkled with colorful wildflowers from the countryside. But in 2008, scientists used an X-ray to examine the painting, and they discovered that there was a portrait of a peasant woman hidden underneath the grass. This was actually very common for Vincent Van Gogh’s early works. He was very poor, and wouldn’t have had a lot of money to buy new canvas. So at least one third of his early pieces actually have hidden paintings underneath them. Another example of this was from a painting called “Head of a Peasant Woman”. Just recently, in 2022, they discovered with X-rays that there was a hidden self-portrait of Van Gogh underneath.