Mysterious portrait of a woman discovered during the Picasso painting

Historians recently made an unexpected discovery when examined one of Pablo PicassoS paintings.

When you take X-ray and infrared images of a “portrait showing Picasso’s sculptor painted in 1901 and one of the earliest examples of the artist’s blue period”, conservators on Courtauld Institute of Art In London discovered that during the portrait was a painting of a woman.

Historians found the artwork hidden in Picasso’s “Portrait of Mateu Fernández de Soto”, which is currently part of an upcoming exhibition, according to a press release.

The newfound painting was probably created a few months before Picasso started its official portrait.

“Picasso often reused his canvases right now because he did not have much money. But he also embraced the process of painting a work over another and withstanding whitewashing of old pictures in favor of starting a new figure directly on top of an earlier,” Institute wrote in News notice. “It’s as if the portrait of the soot grew out of the woman’s figure below that one style gave way to another.”

“Picasso’s way of working to turn one image into another and to be a stylistic shapeshifter would be a crucial move in his art,” added Barnaby WrightDeputy Head of Courty Gallery.

“We have long suspected that another painting was behind the portrait,” he continued. “The surface of the work has stories and structures on something below. Now we know that this is a woman’s figure. You can even start making her shape just by looking at the painting with the naked eye. ”

The woman’s head, curved shoulders and fingers are easily seen in the portrait. Viewers can even bring out the women’s bun Hairstyle – A popular hairstyle at that time. Further evidence indicates that there is another head at a lower level in the painting, which indicates that the canvas may have been reworked several times.

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Although the woman’s figure is clear, her identity is not, according to the department.

The painting is similar to other Parisian women that Picasso painted that year, and experts say it can be “a model, a friend or even a lover.”

At just 19 years old, Picasso arrived in Paris in May 1901. He started the year and favored a lively impressionistic style with bright colors. Later in the year he went into what is called his blue period – a more gloomy and contemplative style. Historians often point to the suicide of Picasso’s friend Carlos Casagemas as inspiration for the new period.

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See “The portrait of Mateu Fernández de Soto” as part of the exhibition Goya to Impressionism at the Courteuld Institute from February 14 to May 26.