Under the paintings of artists are increasingly finding secrets. What are they?

The most expensive painting by an Italian artistLeonardo da Vinci is considered to be the "Savior of the World", which depicts Jesus Christ with a transparent ball. In 2017, it was sold for $400 million. The high cost of the picture is due not only to the fact that it was written by a great artist and scientist - his creation had one important feature. If you look closely, you can see that the glass ball on the hand does not reflect light, which for a long time was considered a gross mistake on the part of Da Vinci. However, computer simulations have shown that there is no error, and the ball in the picture is hollow - in this case, it should not necessarily distort space. There are a lot of great paintings with secrets, and even other works are hidden inside some. We offer you to get acquainted with some of them, because at one time they made a lot of noise in the circles of art lovers.

Many famous paintings are fraught with secrets. What?

Unknown painting by Van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh is a Dutch artist whoDuring his life he created about 2100 works. One of his paintings is "The Head of a Peasant Woman", which was painted in 1885 and was recently being prepared for presentation at the next exhibition. When the restorers examined it under X-rays, it turned out that there was a secret in the painting. On the reverse side of the canvas was a self-portrait of Van Gogh in a wide-brimmed hat and with a scarf around his neck. It was hidden under a layer of glue and cardboard.

"The head of a peasant woman" and a self-portrait hidden behind it

Unraveling this mystery sheds light on newdetails about the life of the artist. Experts suggested that the painting was painted when the artist got acquainted with the works of the French Impressionists after moving to Paris. It is known that during his lifetime the artist was not rich, therefore, in order to save money, he used both sides of the canvases. Probably, after the death of the artist, the work "Head of a Peasant Woman" was considered more finished, and the self-portrait was hidden under cardboard.

"Black Square" and cubes hidden behind it

We managed to find them with the help of x-rays and studycracks in the paint, through which the underlying layers are visible. It turned out that under the picture there is also an image of cubes. The second object is the inscription - the experts failed to fully decipher it, but it should read as "Battle of Negroes in a dark cave in the dead of night." This is a direct reference to the work of the same name by the French journalist Alphonse Allais - his painting is also a black canvas.

"Battle of the Negroes in a Dark Cave in the Dead of Night" by Alphonse Allais

You will be interested: The Science Behind Salvador Dali's Surreal Paintings

The secret of the picture "Saturday"

At the beginning of the 20th century, the French painter AndreDeren painted the picture "Saturday". It depicts a woman seated with a book giving orders to a maid while another does needlework. According to contemporaries, the painter reworked the painting many times and carefully thought out its plot. In 1913, the painting was acquired by Moscow collector Sergei Shchukin, and today it is kept in the Pushkin Museum of Foreign Art. in Moscow.

The painting "Saturday" by Andre Derain

In 2017, experts studied the painting and foundunder layers of paint outlines of an earlier sketch. It turned out that initially Andre Derain placed the girls in other places. For example, in the very center of the picture there was a woman in a light scarf, and to the left of her there was a jug or a large vase - it is not clear exactly. In the background, the restorers noticed what looked like a fireplace. With the help of an optical and electron microscope, it was found that the picture was originally brighter, but the tablecloth on the table was painted brown, not green.

What is hidden under "Saturday"

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It should be noted that in the modern world, too,there are world famous artists. An example is the mysterious Banksy, who carefully hides his identity. Someone believes that he is one of the founders of the Massive Attack group Robert Del Naya, and some are sure that his real name is Robin Gunningham. Whoever he is, his work always attracts attention, and sometimes the artist arranges pranks. He always said that his work is not for sale, and when his "Girl with a Balloon" graffiti was sold for $ 1.4 million, the painting was automatically destroyed. You can read about this amazing case here.