Experts at the Guggenheim Museum in the United States have discovered a puppy that appears to have been deliberately painted over in Pablo Picasso’s painting ‘Le Moulin de la Galette’.
According to CNN on the 16th (local time), a dog was actually sitting on the table of ‘The Ball at the Moulin de la Galette’ painted by Picasso in the early days of his work. The Guggenheim Museum, which exhibits the work, found this out in a study conducted jointly with experts from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Gallery.
Julie Barten, senior painting manager at the Guggenheim Museum, said that she was able to capture the dog hidden in the work through X-ray fluorescence imaging. “The interesting point is that Picasso scrawled this dog. Picasso would have used such a technique deliberately for the overall composition.”
Batten is not sure how the puppy, which appears to be of the breed ‘Cavalier King Charles Spaniel’, was removed from the table, but he speculates that Picasso himself may have thought ‘the puppy distracted the work’. “If the puppies had been left at the table, they would have captured all the attention of the viewers,” says Batten. By erasing the puppy, all the other cool characters stand out more and allow me to experience the space in a different way.”
According to a study conducted by the Guggenheim Museum, Picasso constantly made subtle changes to his work, such as changing the gender of a dancing couple and repainting a chair. A researcher said that editing a painting was Picasso’s unique practice, and the ball at the Moulin de la Galette is one of the good examples of this.
Currently, Moulin de la Galette’s ball is being exhibited at the ‘Young Picasso in Paris’ exhibition, which is being held at the Guggenheim Museum in the United States to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Picasso’s death. The work is also well known as the work of the same name by French impressionist painter Pierre Auguste Renoir.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.