Portraits of Van Gogh
So much so that it has now become a part of pop culture.
Van Gogh said. “How can I be useful, of what service can I be? There is something inside me, what can it be? the news coming from the National Galleries of Scotland is proving it true for his art as well Although the quote referred to the internal world. Whenever we talk about art, among the few pictures that come to mind is the beautiful Starry Night by the famous Vincent van Gogh. You can see Van Gogh-inspired art everywhere, from tote bags to T-shirts. The once lesser-known artist has become the embodiment of omnipresence.
Do you know that a few years ago, in 2022, experts at the National Galleries of Scotland found a centuries-old, previously unknown self-portrait of the artist? Van Gogh lived a humble life; his work did not sell during his lifetime, and the craze for his art came only after his death in 1890, at the age of 37. The exclusive painting was not found at another exhibition or auction; it was discovered during a routine check of Head of a Peasant Woman , painted in 1885.
Due to poverty, the artist often reused canvases to save money, mostly by turning them over and working on the other side. The discovery therefore adds to an already known aspect of his working life. Conservators at the National Galleries of Scotland were examining the artwork as part of a cataloguing exercise ahead of the exhibition A Taste for Impressionism when the X-ray images revealed the face hidden on the reverse side of the canvas.
All the members, including senior conservator Lesley Stevenson, were shocked to find the artist’s eyes looking back at them. Who knew that the once-unknown artist would become the face of Western art history? Sometimes, what we are looking for outside is sitting right next to us. The habit of reusing canvases was not limited to this painting. The National Galleries of Scotland noted that other examples of double-sided paintings by the artist exist in collections around the world, including the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Instead of treating the canvas as a surface that could be used only once, Van Gogh sometimes turned it around and began again. In this case, the decision left behind an unexpected second work, one that remained out of sight long after the artist’s death.
Before the commencement of an exhibition, conservators were examining the canvas using X-rays when a hidden portrait was discovered. The self-portrait, concealed for more than a hundred years, was covered by layers of glue and cardboard on the back of an earlier work called Head of a Peasant Woman . He created several works on the reverse sides of earlier canvases, particularly during periods when money and art supplies were limited.
