An x-ray of the artist’s ‘Head of a Peasant Woman’ masterpiece reveals the astonishing discovery

Thanks to modern technology, art historians and gallery professionals are now able to know more about the world’s masterpieces crafted by the best artists in history. The latest discovery in the international art field involves one of Vincent van Gogh’s works, which is concealing a secret for over 100 years. 

At the center of the conversation is the “Head of a Peasant Woman.” The painting was x-rayed for an upcoming exhibition, and experts at the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) were suprised to see an illustration of Van Gogh hidden in the painting. It presented the Dutch artist as “a bearded sitter in a brimmed hat with a neckerchief loosely tied at the throat,” covered by layers of glue and cardboard.

“When we saw the x-ray for the first time, of course, we were hugely excited,” says Lesley Stevenson, senior paintings conservator of the gallery, said. “Such a major discovery happens once, twice, in a conservator's lifetime.”

“Knowing that it’s there, in a collection that belongs to the people of Scotland, is incredibly important,” she added. “To have an image as elusive as it presently is, is something very, very special.”   

According to reports, the piece features a local woman from the town of Nuenen in the south of the Netherlands, where Van Gogh stayed from December 1883 to November 1885. It is known that he struggled as an artist during his lifetime and only became famous for his work after his death in 1890. The NGS said that the artist was able to save money by reusing canvases. 

While it is unknown if the underlying self-portrait can be uncovered, guests of the gallery will soon be able to see the x-ray image in a specially crafted lightbox at the center of “A Taste for Impressionism” exhibit. 

Know more about Van Gogh’s hidden self-portrait here.

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