Tracking Art: Discovering Vincent van Gogh's Never-Sold Paintings

Through X-ray technology, from the back of Head of a Peasant Woman (1884) appears the figure of a bearded man, wearing a brimmed hat and scarf, underneath a series of layers of glue and cardboard. Only the left side of the face is clearly visible, but this character possesses intense and attractive eyes that make viewers unable to take their eyes off.

Lesley Stevenson, one of the art conservators who found the painting, called the find a shock "because it complements what we already know about van Gogh's life."

The work Head of a Peasant Woman depicts a woman from the Nuenen region, the Netherlands, where the artist lived from December 1883 to November 1885. However, researchers believe that the self-portrait on the back was painted after he moved to Paris in 1886.

During his lifetime, Vincent van Gogh did not receive the fame or money worthy of his talent. In his 37 short years on earth, van Gogh often reused or painted on both sides of his paintings to save money. This is not the first time a work has been discovered on the back of another painting. In 2007, the painting Wild Vegetation (1889) was discovered, also by X-ray technology, behind The Ravine .

For this newly discovered painting, conservationists are working further on ways to remove the glue and cardboard without affecting the original Head of a Peasant Woman . Meanwhile, visitors to the upcoming “A Taste for Impressionism” exhibition can admire the self-portrait as an X-ray print in a lightbox.

“Moments like these are rare.” Curator Frances Fowle at the National Gallery of Scotland said. “An anonymous work of Vincent van Gogh – one of the most famous painters in the world!”