The buzz of Bohemian Paris frozen in a moment, men and women in their finery dancing the night away in Le Moulin de la Galette.
Pablo Picasso was just 19 years old when he ventured into the famed dancehall on the site of a former windmill, following in the brushstrokes of his hero Toulouse-Lautrec.
His 1900 painting, with the same name as the Montmartre nightspot, shows virtually nothing of Picasso’s abstract genius that would go on to make him one of the world’s most famous artists.
But ahead of the painting going on display in New York’s Guggenheim, recent research and extensive restoration revealed a secret little character hiding among the grinning faces.
A small King Charles spaniel that had been painted into the original depiction, but later painted over, was discovered. It can still be found…
Pablo Picasso’s 1900 painting entitled Le Moulin de la Galette depicts a lively scene and sees revelers sporting dresses and fine hats drinking and dancing at a dimly lit venue
The painting is on display until August 6 and is part of a 10-piece exhibition ‘Young Picasso in Paris,’ which features some of the Spanish artist’s early work when he was living in France.
But before the exhibition, the Guggenheim worked in collaboration with experts from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. to reveal the figure of the dog.
They restored the painting by removing grime and varnish, which revealed subtleties previously unnoticed.
Conservators were then able to generate a lively guest at one of the tables, which was covered up by a large swath of dark paint.
They did this using X-ray fluorescence, which is a technical imaging technique that maps out the chemical elements in a paint.
Julie Barten, a painting conservator at the Guggenheim, said in an interview that the painting had undergone an entire year of treatment.
So, are you able to spot the King Charles spaniel? If not we’ll give you a hint…
The animal is detailed of the lower-left corner of the painting – with an adorable red bow.
And, although experts needed an X-ray to spot it… once you know where it is, you’ll not be able to look at this painting the same way again.
Detailed of the lower-left corner of Picasso’s ‘Le Moulin de la Galette,’ the dog can be found. Imaging and restoration revealed a small dog that the artist had painted over
Recent research and extensive restoration of the painting was done recently, for the newly opened Guggenheim Museum in New York City. Conservators were able to generate a lively guest at one of the tables of the painting, which was covered up by dark paint
Julie Barten, senior paintings conservator at the Guggenheim Museum, told Reuters she had always had ‘a strong feeling that there was something under there’.
She added: ‘“What we know is that in many instances, Picasso painted aspects of the composition and then subsequently obliterated them and transformed them into other compositional elements. This was really part of his practice.’
But it is not uncommon for Picasso to leave behind Easter Eggs like these in his artwork.
X-ray revealed Picasso painted over another work to create one of his masterpieces. Curators in Canada (right) noticed unusual textures of La Misereuse Accroupie (The Crouching Beggar, left) when they received it for display
Researchers in 2020 also discovered a hidden painting beneath Picasso’s Still Life, 1922, as they found a black-and-white infrared image of the back of the canvas
A hidden arm, for example, was uncovered a few years ago in Picasso’s ‘La Miséreuse accroupie.’
After rotating the work 90 degrees to the right, an international team of scientists in 2018 used multiple modes of light to uncover details hidden beneath the visible surface of the work.
And in 2020, researchers discovered a hidden painting beneath ‘Picasso’s Still Life.’
The cubist rendering of a guitar, wine bottle and compote masks an entirely separate still life.
Unlike the grid-like design of the 1922 painting, the work was actually painted in a neoclassical style, findings published in the journal SN Applied Sciences revealed.
A black-and-white infrared image of the back of the canvas reveal shadowy outlines of a pitcher and a mug, as both items rest on an ornate chair.
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