Know Van Gogh? Well, who doesn’t recognize this great artist? Even though he lived a century before us, his art works live on as manifestations of his great talent. Maybe you’re even some of the lucky people who have actually seen some of his paintings. But are you aware that Van Gogh sometimes recycled his canvas? Through advanced X-ray techniques scientists found out that Van Gogh’s work “Patch of Grass” contained a detailed painting of a woman underneath. The scientists speculate that this woman’s portrait may have been a rejected painting. Instead of getting a new canvas, Vincent Van Gogh just painted over it. Because of this finding, scientists estimate that one third of his paintings were painted over existing ones.

Joris Dik and Koen Janssens found out about this using X-ray beam from a synchrotron radiation source. All the elements underneath “Patch of Grass” were clearly shown with X-ray fluorescence. I guess the next you see another Van Gogh painting you can’t help thinking, “Could there be a hidden Van Gogh here somewhere?”

“Patch of Grass” was painted by Van Gogh in 1887 while he was in Paris. At this time this painting can be viewed at the Kroller-Muller Museum in the Netherlands.