By: Jingwei Zhao

Vincent Van Gogh is a famous Dutch Painter. He was poor at one point in his life, so he used both sides of the canvas to paint. The Head of a Peasant Woman is a painting made by Van Gogh in 1885. This is one of his paintings that contains another on the back. The back of that painting is a self-portrait of Van Gogh, although it is quite hard to see. Since no one knew that there was a painting on the back of the Head of a Peasant Woman, Van Gogh’s self-portrait was covered in glue and cardboard. However, you can still make out the head and shoulders of the portrait.

The National Art Gallery of Scotland is currently preparing an exhibition of impressionism art, which is how the self-portrait was discovered. The Head of a Peasant Woman was given an X-ray, which allowed the workers there to discover the painting on the back. “Moments like this are incredibly rare,” said Frances Fowle, a senior curator of French art. Senior paintings conservator Lesley Stevenson spoke in a video released by the Scotland Museum that “to have an image as elusive as it presently is something very, very special.”

Van Gogh’s self-portrait will be put on display at the art museum. There is an X-ray image of the painting that can be viewed using a special lightbox. The self-portrait description by the museum says, “a bearded sitter in a brimmed hat with a neckerchief loosely tied at the throat. He fixes the viewer with an intense stare, the right side of his face in shadow and his left ear clearly visible.” Despite this painting being a rarity as it is double-sided, Van Gogh has created multiple different double-sided paintings. Van Gogh would even paint over his works a few times.