What the world famous paintings really hide, or secret messages that no one knew about

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

One of the great things about art is that it is always open to interpretation. Some of the most famous artists in the world deliberately put secret messages into their paintings to undermine credibility, challenge audiences, or reveal something about themselves. Hundreds of years later, thanks to advances in technology, many of these secret messages were first discovered and put on public display and discussion.

1. The Last Supper

If you've read Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, you know that this late 15th-century fresco by Leonardo da Vinci was the subject of much speculation. Brown suggested that the disciple to Jesus' right was actually Mary Magdalene disguised as the Apostle John. He also suggests that the "V" shape that forms between Jesus and John represents a woman's womb, which suggests that Jesus and Mary Magdalene actually conceived a child naturally. However, art historians are skeptical. Many assume that John's appearance is feminine simply because that is how he is often portrayed. That is why, according to expert Mario Taddei, Leonardo had to rewrite The Last Supper in order to convey as accurately as possible the femininity of John. But a much more convincing secret message was discovered by Italian computer technician Giovanni Maria Pala. He claims that da Vinci hid musical notes in The Last Supper, which, when read from left to right, correspond to a forty-second hymn that sounds like a requiem.

2. Night cafe terrace

At first glance, Vincent van Gogh's Café Terrace at Night, painted in oil in 1888, looks like it's just what the name describes: a quaint café terrace in a colorful French city. But in 2015, Van Gogh expert Jared Baxter hypothesized that the painting was actually the artist's own version of The Last Supper. After careful research, experts focused on a central figure with long hair surrounded by twelve people, one of whom appears to be, glides into the shadows like Judas. In addition to all this, experts in the field of history and art criticism have found strange symbols in the picture, so similar to small crucifixes, one of which is located above the central figure vaguely reminiscent of Jesus.

3. Prophet Zechariah

Some of Michelangelo's works in the Sistine Chapel may have some pretty daring hidden secrets. "Prophet Zechariah", for example, looks like a fresco depicting the prophet of the same name reading a book while two cherubim look over his shoulder. he places his thumb between his middle and forefinger. It's basically an old version of the middle finger. Rabbi Benjamin Blech of Yeshiva University told ABC News:

4. Mona Lisa

Da Vinci's 15th century masterpiece is one of the most recognizable works of art in the world, but there is a lot to see besides this infamous half smile. First, there is some speculation that the mysterious Mona Lisa is pregnant given the way her hands are positioned on her stomach. and a veil around the shoulders, which was often worn by pregnant women during the Italian Renaissance, but the newest finds with secret symbols are hidden in her eyes. In 2011, Italian researcher Silvano Vincheti claimed to have found microscopically drawn letters and numbers on them. He told The Associated Press that the letter "L" above her right eye probably represents the artist's name. But the meaning of the letter "S" he sees in her left eye, as well as the number 72 under the arched bridge in the background, are less are clear. Vincheti believes that the letter "S" may refer to a woman from the Sforza dynasty who ruled Milan, which means that the woman in the picture may not be Lisa Gherardini, as it has long been believed. Regarding the number 72, Vincheti argues that it may be related to the meaning of numbers in both Christianity and Judaism. For example, "7" refers to the creation of the world, and the number "2" can refer to the duality of men and women.

5. Portrait of the Arnolfini couple

When you first look at the painting "Portrait of the Arnolfini Couple" by Jan van Eyck, painted in 1434, it seems that it simply depicts the merchant Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his wife. But if you look closely at the mirror in the center of the room, you will see that two figures enter the room. It is widely believed that one of them must be Van Eyck himself. You will also notice that on the wall above the mirror there is a very complex Latin inscription that translates as “Jan van Eyck was here. 1434 ".

6. Ambassadors

The painting "The Ambassadors" by Hans Holbein the Younger, painted in 1533, has a rather impressive illusion at its foundation. If you look at the lopsided image at the bottom of the painting from right to left, you will see that it is an anamorphic skull. Scientists believe that this is a kind of reminder that death is always around the corner.

7. Old guitarist

Pablo Picasso's obsessive depiction of an elderly man plucking guitar strings in the early 1900s is one of the most revered works of his "Blue" period (a term for a series of paintings painted in shades of blue or green-blue). However, in 1998, researchers used an infrared camera and found another painting of a woman underneath. Now that the paint had faded, it became easier to see the woman's face above the old man's neck. But, unfortunately, it was not possible to establish the identity of this mysterious person hiding under the image of the "Old Guitarist".

8. Portrait of Madame X

In 1884, John Singer Sargent painted a portrait of the wealthy Parisian socialite Virginie Amelie Avegno Gautreau. And according to experts, he originally depicted the jeweled strap of her dress slipping off her shoulder, but this piece shocked high society. Sargent had to put the strap back in place and rename the painting to obscure the object's name, as well as move to London to avoid further difficulties.

9. View of the Scheveningen sands

If you had visited the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England, between 1873 and 2014, you would not have seen this giant stranded whale depicted in Hendrik van Antonissen's Seashore View of Scheveningen. years to notice that in a work of art, a bunch of people gather in a group and look nowhere. When Shan Kuan (Assistant and Research Fellow at the Associate Conservator of the Kress Program in Paintings Conservation) removed a layer of yellow varnish, restoring the landscape of 1641, she discovered a whale stranded on the shore and solved the mystery of the people gathered on the shore.

10. Spring

The true meaning of Sandro Botticelli's masterpiece Spring is disputed. But it is widely believed that on some level this work of art epitomizes the celebration of Spring and the fertility that the season brings, and the painting does have secret delights for gardening enthusiasts. Botanists have identified at least two hundred different plant species in Spring, which are presented in specific detail.

11. The world is upside down

Pieter Bruegel the Elder's painting Dutch Proverbs, painted in 1559, is also known as "The World Upside Down" - according to experts, contains at least one hundred and twelve identifiable proverbs operating in it. Some of them are idioms that we still use, such as “swimming against the tide”, “banging your head against a brick wall,” “armed to the teeth,” and others.

12. Music lesson

According to art critics, most of Jan Vermeer's work is full of secret symbols with sexual connotations. For example, in Music Lesson, it appears that the woman in the painting is looking down at the piano keys, but she is actually turning away from him to meet her teacher's gaze, as you can see in the mirror above her. The wine on the table is also an aphrodisiac, and the stringed instrument on the floor can be seen as a phallic symbol. But who knows what the artist really meant when he painted this picture. Perhaps his message was completely different and there is nothing reprehensible in this work. After all, as you know, modern society loves to vulgarize everything.

13. Persistence of memory

Given what a genius surrealist artist Salvador Dali was, it's natural to assume that the melting clock in his 1931 painting The Persistence of Memory is a nod to Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. . Therefore, most experts are inclined to believe that the famous melting clock is nothing more than a gentle, extravagant and lonely paranoid-critical Camembert of time and space.

14. Starry night

In her 2014 TED talk, researcher Natalia St Clair explained how the movement in Vincent van Gogh's 1889 painting Starry Night hinted at an extremely complex mathematical concept called turbulent flow, decades before scientists discovered it. explains St. Clair. This prompted scientists to study Van Gogh's paintings in detail, and when they did, they discovered that there was a distinct picture of the turbulent fluid structures hidden in many of the legendary painter's works.

15. Glade with grass

Van Gogh's 1887 painting "A Glade with Grass" vividly recreates a dynamic pastoral scene, but that's not all. In 2008, Dutch scientists Joris Dick and Cohen Janssens pioneered the use of X-ray technology, which helped them discover a hidden portrait of a peasant woman buried under the blades of grass. Van Gogh was known for painting over his early works, and experts estimate that about a third of his original works have hidden compositions disguised underneath, according to The Guardian.

If you are curious to know what other works of art hide, then look for answers in the following article.