There Are Actual Hidden Messages in These Famous Works of Art

There Are Actual Hidden Messages in These Famous Works of Art

Shannon Quinn - October 29, 2022

There Are Actual Hidden Messages in These Famous Works of Art
“The Head of a Peasant Woman” on the left, and the hidden self-portrait on the right. Credit: The Art Newspaper

“Head of a Peasant Woman” by Vincent Van Gogh

Originally created in 1885, “Head of a Peasant Woman” was set to premiere in an exhibit at the ​​Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh, Scotland in 2022. They noticed that the back of the painting was covered by layers of cardboard and glue. Using x-ray technology, they were able to find a hidden painting, which they believe to be one of Van Gogh’s earliest self portraits. When this painting went up for its exhibit, they used a special light box to help people see the x-ray so that they could experience the hidden painting for themselves. The museum is considering trying to remove the cardboard and glue to get a better view of the portrait, but it’s a delicate and time-consuming process.

 

How did we find this stuff? Here are our sources:

“25 Mind-Blowing Secrets Hidden in Famous Works of Art”. Best Life. 2019

Mona Lisa’s Hidden Symbols? Researcher Says Yes“. CBS News. 2011

“Hidden Meanings and Secret Codes Buried in Da Vinci’s ‘The Last Supper'”. The Vintage News. 2019

Italian musician uncovers hidden music in Da Vinci’s ‘Last Supper’. Associated Press. YouTube. 2015.

The Meaning Of Jan Van Eyck’s The Arnolfini Portrait. The Culture Trip. 2018

“Bacchus” by Caravaggio – Analyzing the Famous Painting of Dionysus. Art in Context. 2022

​​450-Year-Old Painting Contains Over 100 Proverbs We Still Use Today. The Modern Met. 2022.

Whale of a Discovery Hidden in Dutch Masterpiece. NBC News.

The Supper at Emmaus: A coded symbol hidden in a masterpiece. BBC. 2021.

The Mirrors Behind Rembrandt’s Self-Portraits. The New York Times. 2016.

A hidden self-portrait has been discovered by X-ray on the back of a Van Gogh painting. CBS News. 2022.

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