Picasso Secret Portrait Discovered Under Famous Painting

June 17, 2014

A hidden portrait has been unearthed beneath Pablo Picasso's masterpiece "The Blue Room".

The Blue Room / Picasso

Art experts using infrared technology on the painting revealed a man wearing a jacket, bow tie and rings and resting his bearded face on his hand.

Scientists have confirmed that the artwork was created just before "The Blue Room" during the Spanish painter's early 1900s 'blue period', in which he focused on monochromatic paintings in blue shades.

It remains unknown who the mystery man in the 'lost' painting is but specialists are "still working on answering that question".

The hidden painting / Independent.co.uk

The existence of another painting below the surface of "The Blue Room" was first suspected in 1954 when conservators noticed that brushstrokes did not match the composition.

It does not surprise the experts that Picasso re-used his canvas. Curator Susan Behrends Frank told AP that the artist "could not afford to acquire new canvasses every time he had an idea that he wanted to pursue".

Via Independent