Mysteries of history in pictures. Secrets of famous paintings. "Night Watch" depicts day, not night

There are many masterpieces of fine art known throughout the world. But not everyone knows that some of them keep secrets that were discovered after the death of the creators of the works. Although there are secrets that were learned about during the artists’ lifetime, which makes the paintings even more mysterious and attractive.

1. Hieronymus Bosch, “The Garden of Earthly Delights,” 1500-1510.

2. Since the appearance of this masterpiece by the Dutch artist, debates have flared up more than once about the hidden meanings in it. Of particular interest has always been the sinner depicted on the right wing of the triptych, who has music notes imprinted on his buttocks. One of the students at Oklahoma Christian University named Amelia Hamrick decided to translate the 16th-century notation into a modern twist, and the “500-year-old ass song from hell” that appeared on the Internet became a real sensation.

3. "Mona Lisa"
Few people know that there are two versions of the well-known painting. One of them is called “Monna Vanna”, and its author is the student and model of Leonardo da Vinci, the little-known artist Salai. Art historians are confident that it was this young artist who served as the model for the great Leonardo when painting such paintings as “John the Baptist” and “Bacchus.” Some even suspect that it was Szalai who posed while painting the Mona Lisa, dressed in a woman’s dress.

4. "Old Fisherman"

5. This seemingly unremarkable painting was painted by the Hungarian artist Tivadar Kostka Csontvary in 1902. But the subtext embedded in the picture was revealed only after the death of the author. If you place a mirror in the middle of the picture, you can see God on one side and the Devil on the other. So the artist tried to reflect the dual essence of each of us.

6. "The Last Supper"
When painting his painting, Leonardo da Vinci paid special attention to the figures of Christ and Judas. One of the young singers was chosen as the model for the image of Christ, but the artist spent three whole years searching for a model for Judas. One day on the street Leonardo came across a drunkard whom he liked so much that he decided to paint Judas from him. Imagine the artist’s surprise when the drunkard, who had come to his senses, said that he had already posed for the master several years ago and it was from him that Leonardo painted Christ.

7. "American Gothic"
Many people find Grant Wood's work strange and depressing, although there is absolutely no subtext to it. The artist made this painting during a trip to Iowa when he saw a small Gothic-style house. Grant's sister and his dentist posed as characters in front of the house.

8. "Night Watch"
This painting by Rembrandt, “The Performance of the Rifle Company of Captain Frans Banning Cock and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburg,” was discovered by art historians only in the 19th century. This work was included in the treasury of world art under the name “Night Watch”, which it received due to the dark background against which the figures appear. In 1947, the painting was restored, and it was then that the layer of soot with which it was covered was discovered. Having cleared the original, it was revealed that the artist meant a daytime scene, judging by the position of the shadow from the left hand of the central figure at approximately 14 o'clock.

9. "Boat"
In 1961, Henri Matisse's painting "The Boat" hung upside down in New York's Museum of Modern Art for 47 days. The painting shows 10 purple lines and two blue sails on a white background. When it was discovered that the second sail was just a reflection of the first one on the surface of the water, it became clear that the picture was hung incorrectly. The top of the picture should be a large sail.

10. “Self-portrait with a pipe”
Although many believe that Van Gogh cut off his own ear, art historians are confident that the artist injured his ear in a fight with the artist Paul Gauguin. Considering that the self-portrait reflects a distorted reality due to the fact that it was painted using a mirror, in fact the artist’s left ear was damaged.

11. “Breakfast on the grass.” Two French artists, Edouard Manet and Claude Monet, are often confused. This is not surprising, because even the title of Manet’s painting “Lunch on the Grass” was borrowed by Monet and painted in his own “Lunch on the Grass”.

12. Claude Monet, “Luncheon on the Grass.”

13. “Morning in a pine forest”
As it turned out, not only Shishkin worked on this well-known picture. Since the artist, who specialized in painting landscapes, could not produce bears, he turned to animal artist Konstantin Savitsky for help.

There is a superstition that painting a portrait can bring bad luck to the model. In the history of Russian painting there have been several famous paintings that have developed a mystical reputation.

"Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan November 16, 1581." Ilya Repin

Ilya Repin had a reputation as a “fatal painter”: many of those whose portraits he painted died suddenly. Among them are Mussorgsky, Pisemsky, Pirogov, Italian actor Mercy d'Argenteau and Fyodor Tyutchev.

Repin's darkest painting is "Ivan the Terrible Kills His Son." An interesting fact: it is still unknown whether Ivan IV killed his son or whether this legend was actually invented by the Vatican envoy Antonio Possevino.

The picture made a depressing impression on visitors to the exhibition. Cases of hysteria were recorded, and in 1913, icon painter Abram Balashov ripped open the painting with a knife. He was later declared insane.

A strange coincidence: the artist Myasoedov, from whom Repin painted the image of the Tsar, soon almost killed his son Ivan in a fit of anger, and the writer Vsevolod Garshin, who became sitter for Tsarevich Ivan, he went crazy and committed suicide.

"Portrait of M. I. Lopukhina." Vladimir Borovikovsky

Maria Lopukhina, descended from the Tolstoy family, became the artist’s model at the age of 18, shortly after her own wedding. The amazingly beautiful girl was healthy and full of strength, but died 5 years later. Years later, the poet Polonsky would write “Borovikovsky saved her beauty...”.

There were rumors about the connection of the painting with the death of Lopukhina. An urban legend was born that one should not look at a portrait for long - the “model” would suffer the sad fate.

Some claimed that the girl's father, a Master of the Masonic Lodge, captured the spirit of his daughter in the portrait.

80 years later, the painting was acquired by Tretyakov, who was not afraid of the portrait’s reputation. Today the painting is in the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery.

"Unknown." Ivan Kramskoy

The painting “Unknown” (1883) aroused great interest among the St. Petersburg public. But Tretyakov flatly refused to purchase the painting for his collection. Thus, “The Stranger” began its journey through private collections. Soon strange things began to happen: its first owner’s wife left him, the second’s house burned down, the third went bankrupt. All misfortunes were attributed to the fatal picture.

The artist himself did not escape trouble; soon after painting the picture, Kramskoy’s two sons died.

The painting was sold abroad, where it continued to bring nothing but misfortune to its owners, until the painting returned to Russia in 1925. When the portrait ended up in the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery, the misfortunes stopped.

"Troika". Vasily Perov

Perov could not find a model for the central boy for a long time, until he met a woman who was traveling through Moscow on a pilgrimage with her 12-year-old son Vasya. The artist managed to persuade the woman to let Vasily pose for the picture.

A few years later, Perov met with this woman again. It turned out that a year after painting Vasenka died, and his mother specially came to the artist to buy the painting with her last money.

But the canvas had already been purchased and exhibited at the Tretyakov Gallery. When the woman saw Troika, she fell to her knees and began to pray. Touched, the artist painted a portrait of her son for the woman.

"Demon defeated." Mikhail Vrubel

Vrubel's son, Savva, died suddenly shortly after the artist completed the portrait of the boy. The death of his son was a blow for Vrubel, so he concentrated on his last painting, “The Defeated Demon.”

The desire to finish the painting grew into obsession. Vrubel continued to finish the painting even when it was sent to the exhibition.

Not paying attention to the visitors, the artist came to the gallery, took out his brushes and continued to work. Concerned relatives contacted the doctor, but it was too late - tabes spinal cord brought Vrubel to the grave, despite treatment.

"Mermaids". Ivan Kramskoy

Ivan Kramskoy decided to paint a picture based on the story by N.V. Gogol's "May Night, or the Drowned Woman". At the first exhibition at the Association of Itinerants, the painting was hung next to the pastoral “The Rooks Have Arrived” by Alexei Savrasov. On the very first night, the painting “Rooks” fell from the wall.

Soon Tretyakov bought both paintings, “The Rooks Have Arrived” took a place in the office, and “Mermaids” was exhibited in the hall. From that moment on, the servants and members of Tretyakov’s household began to complain about the mournful singing coming from the hall at night.

Moreover, people began to note that next to the painting they experienced a breakdown.

The mysticism continued until the old nanny advised to remove the mermaids from the light to the far end of the hall. Tretyakov followed the advice, and the strangeness stopped.

"On the death of Alexander III." Ivan Aivazovsky

When the artist learned about the death of Emperor Alexander III, he was shocked and painted the picture without any order. According to Aivazovsky, the painting was supposed to symbolize the triumph of life over death. But, having finished the painting, Aivazovsky hid it and did not show it to anyone. The painting was first put on public display only 100 years later.

The painting is broken into fragments; the canvas depicts a cross, the Peter and Paul Fortress and the figure of a woman in black.

The strange effect is that, from a certain angle, the female figure turns into a laughing man. Some see this silhouette as Nicholas II, while others see Pakhom Andreyushkin, one of those terrorists who failed in the assassination attempt on the emperor in 1887.

Tatyana Kolyuchkina

Original post and comments at

Almost every significant work of art has a mystery, a “double bottom” or a secret story that you want to uncover.

Music on the buttocks

Hieronymus Bosch, "The Garden of Earthly Delights", 1500-1510.

Fragment of part of a triptych

Disputes about the meanings and hidden meanings of the most famous work of the Dutch artist have not subsided since its appearance. The right wing of the triptych entitled “Musical Hell” depicts sinners who are tortured in the underworld with the help of musical instruments. One of them has music notes stamped on his buttocks. Oklahoma Christian University student Amelia Hamrick, who studied the painting, translated the 16th-century notation into a modern twist and recorded “a 500-year-old butt song from hell.”

Nude Mona Lisa

The famous "La Gioconda" exists in two versions: the nude version is called "Monna Vanna", it was painted by the little-known artist Salai, who was a student and sitter of the great Leonardo da Vinci. Many art historians are sure that it was he who was the model for Leonardo’s paintings “John the Baptist” and “Bacchus”. There are also versions that Salai, dressed in a woman’s dress, served as the image of the Mona Lisa herself.

Old Fisherman

In 1902, the Hungarian artist Tivadar Kostka Csontvary painted the painting “The Old Fisherman”. It would seem that there is nothing unusual in the picture, but Tivadar put into it a subtext that was never revealed during the artist’s lifetime.

Few people thought of placing a mirror in the middle of the picture. In each person there can be both God (the Old Man's right shoulder is duplicated) and the Devil (the Old Man's left shoulder is duplicated).

Was there a whale?

Hendrik van Antonissen, Shore Scene.

It would seem like an ordinary landscape. Boats, people on the shore and a deserted sea. And only an X-ray study showed that people gathered on the shore for a reason - in the original they were looking at the carcass of a whale washed ashore.

However, the artist decided that no one would want to look at a dead whale, and rewrote the painting.

Two "Breakfasts on the Grass"

Edouard Manet, "Luncheon on the Grass", 1863.

Claude Monet, "Luncheon on the Grass", 1865.

The artists Edouard Manet and Claude Monet are sometimes confused - after all, they were both French, lived at the same time and worked in the style of impressionism. Monet even borrowed the title of one of Manet’s most famous paintings, “Luncheon on the Grass,” and wrote his own “Luncheon on the Grass.”

Doubles at the Last Supper

Leonardo da Vinci, "The Last Supper", 1495-1498.

When Leonardo da Vinci wrote The Last Supper, he attached particular importance to two figures: Christ and Judas. He spent a very long time looking for models for them. Finally, he managed to find a model for the image of Christ among the young singers. Leonardo was unable to find a model for Judas for three years. But one day he came across a drunkard on the street who was lying in a gutter. He was a young man who had been aged by heavy drinking. Leonardo invited him to a tavern, where he immediately began to paint Judas from him. When the drunkard came to his senses, he told the artist that he had already posed for him once. It was several years ago, when he sang in the church choir, Leonardo painted Christ from him.

"Night Watch" or "Day Watch"?

Rembrandt, "Night Watch", 1642.

One of Rembrandt’s most famous paintings, “The Performance of the Rifle Company of Captain Frans Banning Cock and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburg,” hung in different rooms for about two hundred years and was discovered by art historians only in the 19th century. Since the figures seemed to appear against a dark background, it was called “Night Watch,” and under this name it entered the treasury of world art.

And only during the restoration carried out in 1947, it was discovered that in the hall the painting had managed to become covered with a layer of soot, which distorted its color. After clearing the original painting, it was finally revealed that the scene represented by Rembrandt actually takes place during the day. The position of the shadow from Captain Kok's left hand shows that the duration of action is no more than 14 hours.

Overturned boat

Henri Matisse, "The Boat", 1937.

Henri Matisse's painting "The Boat" was exhibited at the New York Museum of Modern Art in 1961. Only after 47 days did someone notice that the painting was hanging upside down. The canvas depicts 10 purple lines and two blue sails on a white background. The artist painted two sails for a reason; the second sail is a reflection of the first on the surface of the water.
In order not to make a mistake in how the picture should hang, you need to pay attention to the details. The larger sail should be the top of the painting, and the peak of the painting's sail should be toward the top right corner.

Deception in self-portrait

Vincent van Gogh, "Self-Portrait with a Pipe", 1889.

There are legends that Van Gogh allegedly cut off his own ear. Now the most reliable version is that van Gogh damaged his ear in a small brawl involving another artist, Paul Gauguin.

The self-portrait is interesting because it reflects reality in a distorted form: the artist is depicted with his right ear bandaged because he used a mirror when working. In fact, it was the left ear that was affected.

Alien bears

Ivan Shishkin, "Morning in the Pine Forest", 1889.

The famous painting belongs not only to Shishkin. Many artists who were friends with each other often resorted to “the help of a friend,” and Ivan Ivanovich, who painted landscapes all his life, was afraid that his touching bears would not turn out the way he wanted. Therefore, Shishkin turned to his friend, the animal artist Konstantin Savitsky.

Savitsky painted perhaps the best bears in the history of Russian painting, and Tretyakov ordered his name to be washed off the canvas, since everything in the picture “from the concept to the execution, everything speaks of the manner of painting, of the creative method peculiar to Shishkin.”

The innocent story of "Gothic"

Grant Wood, American Gothic, 1930.

Grant Wood's work is considered one of the most strange and depressing in the history of American painting. The picture with the gloomy father and daughter is filled with details that indicate the severity, puritanism and retrograde nature of the people depicted.
In fact, the artist did not intend to depict any horrors: during a trip to Iowa, he noticed a small house in the Gothic style and decided to depict those people who, in his opinion, would be ideal as inhabitants. Grant's sister and his dentist are immortalized as the characters Iowans were so offended by.

Salvador Dali's Revenge

The painting "Figure at a Window" was painted in 1925, when Dali was 21 years old. At that time, Gala had not yet entered the artist’s life, and his muse was his sister Ana Maria. The relationship between brother and sister deteriorated when he wrote in one of the paintings “sometimes I spit on the portrait of my own mother, and this gives me pleasure.” Ana Maria could not forgive such shocking behavior.

In her 1949 book, Salvador Dali Through the Eyes of a Sister, she writes about her brother without any praise. The book infuriated Salvador. For another ten years after that, he angrily remembered her at every opportunity. And so, in 1954, the painting “A Young Virgin Indulging in the Sin of Sodomy with the Help of the Horns of Her Own Chastity” appeared. The woman’s pose, her curls, the landscape outside the window and the color scheme of the painting clearly echo “Figure at the Window.” There is a version that Dali took revenge on his sister for her book.

Two-faced Danae

Rembrandt Harmens van Rijn, "Danae", 1636 - 1647.

Many secrets of one of Rembrandt's most famous paintings were revealed only in the 60s of the twentieth century, when the canvas was illuminated with X-rays. For example, the shooting showed that in an early version the face of the princess, who entered into a love affair with Zeus, was similar to the face of Saskia, the painter’s wife, who died in 1642. In the final version of the painting, it began to resemble the face of Gertje Dirks, Rembrandt’s mistress, with whom the artist lived after the death of his wife.

Van Gogh's yellow bedroom

Vincent Van Gogh, "Bedroom in Arles", 1888 - 1889.

In May 1888, Van Gogh acquired a small studio in Arles, in the south of France, where he fled from Parisian artists and critics who did not understand him. In one of the four rooms, Vincent sets up a bedroom. In October, everything is ready, and he decides to paint “Van Gogh’s Bedroom in Arles.” For the artist, the color and comfort of the room were very important: everything had to evoke thoughts of relaxation. At the same time, the picture is designed in alarming yellow tones.

Researchers of Van Gogh's work explain this by the fact that the artist took foxglove, a remedy for epilepsy, which causes serious changes in the patient's perception of color: the entire surrounding reality is painted in green and yellow tones.

Toothless perfection

Leonardo da Vinci, "Portrait of Lady Lisa del Giocondo", 1503 - 1519.

The generally accepted opinion is that the Mona Lisa is perfection and her smile is beautiful in its mystery. However, American art critic (and part-time dentist) Joseph Borkowski believes that, judging by her facial expression, the heroine has lost many teeth. While studying enlarged photographs of the masterpiece, Borkowski also discovered scars around her mouth. “She “smiles” like that precisely because of what happened to her,” the expert believes. “Her facial expression is typical of people who have lost their front teeth.”

Major on face control

Pavel Fedotov, "Major's Matchmaking", 1848.

The public, who first saw the painting “Major's Matchmaking,” laughed heartily: the artist Fedotov filled it with ironic details that were understandable to the audience of that time. For example, the major is clearly not familiar with the rules of noble etiquette: he showed up without the required bouquets for the bride and her mother. And her merchant parents dressed the bride herself in an evening ball gown, although it was daytime (all the lamps in the room were extinguished). The girl obviously tried on a low-cut dress for the first time, is embarrassed and tries to run away to her room.

Why is Liberty naked?

Ferdinand Victor Eugene Delacroix, "Freedom on the Barricades", 1830.

According to art critic Etienne Julie, Delacroix based the woman's face on the famous Parisian revolutionary - the laundress Anne-Charlotte, who went to the barricades after the death of her brother at the hands of royal soldiers and killed nine guardsmen. The artist depicted her with her breasts bare. According to his plan, this is a symbol of fearlessness and selflessness, as well as the triumph of democracy: the naked breast shows that Liberty, as a commoner, does not wear a corset.

Non-square square

Kazimir Malevich, "Black Suprematist Square", 1915.

In fact, “Black Square” is not black at all and not square at all: none of the sides of the quadrangle are parallel to any of its other sides, and to none of the sides of the square frame that frames the picture. And the dark color is the result of mixing various colors, among which there was no black. It is believed that this was not the author’s negligence, but a principled position, the desire to create a dynamic, moving form.

Specialists from the Tretyakov Gallery discovered the author's inscription on the famous painting by Malevich. The inscription reads: “The battle of the blacks in the dark cave.” This phrase refers to the title of the humorous painting by the French journalist, writer and artist Alphonse Allais, “The Battle of Negroes in a Dark Cave in the Dead of Night,” which was a completely black rectangle.

Melodrama of the Austrian Mona Lisa

Gustav Klimt, "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer", 1907.

One of Klimt's most significant paintings depicts the wife of the Austrian sugar magnate Ferdinad Bloch-Bauer. All of Vienna was discussing the stormy romance between Adele and the famous artist. The wounded husband wanted to take revenge on his lovers, but chose a very unusual method: he decided to order a portrait of Adele from Klimt and force him to make hundreds of sketches until the artist began to vomit from her.

Bloch-Bauer wanted the work to last several years, so that the sitter could see how Klimt's feelings were fading. He made a generous offer to the artist, which he could not refuse, and everything turned out according to the scenario of the deceived husband: the work was completed in 4 years, the lovers had long since cooled off to each other. Adele Bloch-Bauer never knew that her husband was aware of her relationship with Klimt.

The painting that brought Gauguin back to life

Paul Gauguin, "Where do we come from? Who are we? Where are we going?", 1897-1898.

Gauguin's most famous painting has one peculiarity: it is “read” not from left to right, but from right to left, like the Kabbalistic texts in which the artist was interested. It is in this order that the allegory of human spiritual and physical life unfolds: from the birth of the soul (a sleeping child in the lower right corner) to the inevitability of the hour of death (a bird with a lizard in its claws in the lower left corner).

The painting was painted by Gauguin in Tahiti, where the artist escaped from civilization several times. But this time life on the island did not work out: total poverty led him to depression. Having finished the canvas, which was to become his spiritual testament, Gauguin took a box of arsenic and went to the mountains to die. However, he did not calculate the dose, and the suicide failed. The next morning, he swayed to his hut and fell asleep, and when he woke up, he felt a forgotten thirst for life. And in 1898, his business began to improve, and a brighter period began in his work.

112 proverbs in one picture

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, "Dutch Proverbs", 1559

Pieter Bruegel the Elder depicted a land inhabited by literal images of Dutch proverbs of those days. The painting contains approximately 112 recognizable idioms. Some of them are still used today, for example, such as: “swim against the current”, “banging your head against the wall”, “armed to the teeth” and “big fish eat little fish”.

Other proverbs reflect human stupidity.

Subjectivity of art

Paul Gauguin, "Breton Village in the Snow", 1894

Gauguin's painting "Breton Village in the Snow" was sold after the author's death for only seven francs and, moreover, under the name "Niagara Falls." The man holding the auction accidentally hung the painting upside down because he saw a waterfall in it.

Hidden picture

Pablo Picasso, "Blue Room", 1901

In 2008, infrared radiation revealed that hidden beneath the Blue Room was another image - a portrait of a man dressed in a suit with a bow tie and resting his head on his hand. “As soon as Picasso had a new idea, he took up his brush and brought it to life. But he did not have the opportunity to buy a new canvas every time a muse visited him,” art historian Patricia Favero explains a possible reason for this.

Unavailable Moroccans

Zinaida Serebryakova, “Naked”, 1928

One day Zinaida Serebryakova received a tempting offer - to go on a creative journey to depict the nude figures of oriental maidens. But it turned out that it was simply impossible to find models in those places. Zinaida's translator came to the rescue - he brought his sisters and fiancee to her. No one before or after has been able to capture naked oriental women who are closed.

Spontaneous insight

Valentin Serov, “Portrait of Nicholas II in a jacket,” 1900

For a long time, Serov could not paint a portrait of the Tsar. When the artist completely gave up, he apologized to Nikolai. Nikolai was a little upset, sat down at the table, stretching out his arms in front of him... And then it dawned on the artist - here is the image! A simple military man in an officer's jacket with clear and sad eyes. This portrait is considered the best depiction of the last emperor.

Another deuce

© Fedor Reshetnikov

The famous painting “Deuce Again” is only the second part of an artistic trilogy.

The first part is “Arrived on vacation.” Obviously a wealthy family, winter holidays, a joyful excellent student.

The second part is “Deuce Again.” A poor family from the working-class outskirts, the height of the school year, a dejected idiot who again got a bad grade. In the upper left corner you can see the painting “Arrived for Vacation”.

The third part is “Re-examination”. A rural house, summer, everyone is walking, one malicious ignoramus, who failed the annual exam, is forced to sit within four walls and cram. In the upper left corner you can see the painting “Deuce Again”.

How masterpieces are born

Joseph Turner, Rain, Steam and Speed, 1844

In 1842, Mrs. Simon traveled by train in England. Suddenly a heavy downpour began. The elderly gentleman sitting opposite her stood up, opened the window, stuck his head out and stared for about ten minutes. Unable to contain her curiosity, the woman also opened the window and began to look ahead. A year later, she discovered the painting “Rain, Steam and Speed” at an exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts and was able to recognize in it the same episode on the train.

Anatomy lesson from Michelangelo

Michelangelo, "The Creation of Adam", 1511

A pair of American neuroanatomy experts believe that Michelangelo actually left behind some anatomical illustrations in one of his most famous works. They believe that the right side of the painting depicts a huge brain. Surprisingly, even complex components can be found, such as the cerebellum, optic nerves and pituitary gland. And the eye-catching green ribbon perfectly matches the location of the vertebral artery.

"The Last Supper" by Van Gogh

Vincent Van Gogh, Café Terrace at Night, 1888

Researcher Jared Baxter believes that Van Gogh’s painting “Cafe Terrace at Night” contains an encrypted dedication to Leonardo da Vinci’s “Last Supper.” In the center of the picture stands a waiter with long hair and a white tunic reminiscent of the clothes of Christ, and around him there are exactly 12 cafe visitors. Baxter also draws attention to the cross located directly behind the waiter in white.

Dali's image of memory

Salvador Dali, "The Persistence of Memory", 1931

It is no secret that the thoughts that visited Dali during the creation of his masterpieces were always in the form of very realistic images, which the artist then transferred to canvas. Thus, according to the author himself, the painting “The Persistence of Memory” was painted as a result of associations that arose from the sight of processed cheese.

What is Munch screaming about?

Edvard Munch, "The Scream", 1893.

Munch spoke about the idea of ​​one of the most mysterious paintings in world painting: “I was walking along a path with two friends - the sun was setting - suddenly the sky turned blood red, I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned against the fence - I looked at blood and flames over the bluish-black fjord and the city - my friends moved on, and I stood trembling with excitement, feeling the endless scream piercing nature." But what kind of sunset could frighten the artist so much?

There is a version that the idea of ​​​​"The Scream" was born to Munch in 1883, when several powerful eruptions of the Krakatoa volcano occurred - so powerful that they changed the temperature of the Earth's atmosphere by one degree. Copious amounts of dust and ash spread across the globe, even reaching Norway. For several evenings in a row, the sunsets looked as if the apocalypse was about to come - one of them became a source of inspiration for the artist.

A writer among the people

Alexander Ivanov, "The Appearance of Christ to the People", 1837-1857.

Dozens of sitters posed for Alexander Ivanov for his main painting. One of them is known no less than the artist himself. In the background, among travelers and Roman horsemen who have not yet heard the sermon of John the Baptist, you can see a character in a robe tunic. Ivanov wrote it from Nikolai Gogol. The writer communicated closely with the artist in Italy, in particular on religious issues, and gave him advice during the painting process. Gogol believed that Ivanov “has long since died for the whole world, except for his work.”

Michelangelo's Gout

Raphael Santi, "The School of Athens", 1511.

Creating the famous fresco "The School of Athens", Raphael immortalized his friends and acquaintances in the images of ancient Greek philosophers. One of them was Michelangelo Buonarotti “in the role” of Heraclitus. For several centuries, the fresco kept the secrets of Michelangelo's personal life, and modern researchers have suggested that the artist's strangely angular knee indicates that he had a joint disease.

This is quite likely, given the peculiarities of the lifestyle and working conditions of Renaissance artists and Michelangelo’s chronic workaholism.

Mirror of the Arnolfini couple

Jan van Eyck, "Portrait of the Arnolfini couple", 1434

In the mirror behind the Arnolfini couple you can see the reflection of two more people in the room. Most likely, these are witnesses present at the conclusion of the contract. One of them is van Eyck, as evidenced by the Latin inscription placed, contrary to tradition, above the mirror in the center of the composition: “Jan van Eyck was here.” This is how contracts were usually sealed.

How a disadvantage turned into a talent

Rembrandt Harmens van Rijn, Self-Portrait at the Age of 63, 1669.

Researcher Margaret Livingston studied all of Rembrandt's self-portraits and discovered that the artist suffered from strabismus: in the images his eyes look in different directions, which is not observed in the portraits of other people by the master. The illness resulted in the artist being able to perceive reality in two dimensions better than people with normal vision. This phenomenon is called "stereo blindness" - the inability to see the world in 3D. But since the painter has to work with a two-dimensional image, this very flaw of Rembrandt could be one of the explanations for his phenomenal talent.

Sinless Venus

Sandro Botticelli, "Birth of Venus", 1482-1486.

Before the appearance of The Birth of Venus, the image of a naked female body in painting symbolized only the idea of ​​original sin. Sandro Botticelli was the first of the European painters to find nothing sinful in him. Moreover, art historians are sure that the pagan goddess of love symbolizes a Christian image in the fresco: her appearance is an allegory of the rebirth of a soul that has undergone the rite of baptism.

Lute player or lute player?

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, "The Lute Player", 1596.

For a long time the painting was exhibited in the Hermitage under the title “The Lute Player”. Only at the beginning of the 20th century did art historians agree that the painting depicts a young man (probably Caravaggio’s acquaintance, the artist Mario Minniti, posed for him): on the notes in front of the musician one can see a recording of the bass line of Jacob Arkadelt’s madrigal “You know that I love you” . A woman could hardly make such a choice - it’s just hard on the throat. In addition, the lute, like the violin at the very edge of the picture, was considered a male instrument in Caravaggio’s era.

The artist sees the world in his own way. Driven by divine providence, he offers the viewer illusionary paintings full of desire to show the obvious. Optical deception or, scientifically speaking, optical illusion is a ubiquitous phenomenon and can be observed endlessly, perceiving the world around us and even ordinary objects.

The ephemerality is especially evident when it comes to the art and works of great masters of the brush, their mysterious canvases, which are worth racking your brains over...

Mysteries of Leonardo da Vinci: mirror hoaxes of a genius

According to researchers, they were able to comprehend the message of the greatest artist with the help of mirrors. Sacred images are what the genius wanted to show the world. One of the most famous paintings of the great hoaxer clearly hints at the presence of the Old Testament Yahweh. The young John the Baptist depicted in the sketch is not looking at Mary or Saint Anne. His gaze passes over the newborn Jesus. He is looking at the face of God! It was his bizarre image that attracted the boy's attention.

The idea of ​​​​creating paintings, the image of which appears under certain conditions, belongs to Leonardo da Vinci. This kind of art is called anamorphic. His Mona Lisa hides an amazing face. It can be seen in the area of ​​​​the right hand of Mona Lisa, the “Last Supper” hides the inverted Grail, and John the Baptist keeps the image of a fantastic creature, hinting at the process of creation. One of the first anamorphic drawings was an image of a child's head, which can only be viewed from a certain angle.

Anamorphic paintings by Istvan Orosz

"The Mysterious Island" - the most famous anamorph of Istvan Oros

The enchanting mystery paintings of the Hungarian graphic artist are based on the laws of physics, so in order to strengthen their perception you will have to study at least a school course. The creator's imagination literally knows no bounds.

The magician hides the most incredible things and phenomena in his paintings, forcing the viewer not only to admire what he saw, but also to think. To obtain an anamorphic image, Oros uses cylindrical, pyramidal or cone-shaped mirror objects. It is enough to put them in the right place and the correct image appears in an obvious light.

3D illusions by Alessandro Diddi

Looking at them, I want to understand how he manages, using only paper and pencil, to create miracles that deceive the human brain.

Diddy has the talent to breathe the spark of God into every drawing. His characters are so real that they even frighten with their presence. He explains his secret simply, suggesting that we try to understand anamorphic art. Next is a matter of technology.

Graphics by Maurits Cornelis Escher

He became famous for his special worldview and ability to juggle with the ordinary laws of the logic of space. Escher's phantasmagoric paintings are called graphic illustrations of the theory of relativity. This type of illusory images aims to achieve a stereo effect. Samples of such pictures are created using special cameras (invention of Ivan Aleksandrovsky, 1854).

The graphics are based on double rendering of the scene (shooting from two cameras). You can see these bizarre sketches only if you know special techniques.

Millions of people admire the works of famous artists of the past. Their amazing colors, the play of shadow and light, the skill with which the smallest details are so carefully painted. But are we looking at paintings carefully enough? Do we see everything that the artist wanted to show us? At first glance, it only seems that these are just landscapes, portraits, historical and biblical subjects. They may contain the most amazing secrets of history, the secrets of their creators, and under the layer of paint of one painting, a completely different one may be hidden. Only careful study and analysis carried out by experts can lift the veil of these secrets for us, but sometimes even they cannot do this, and the mysteries of famous paintings remain unsolved for future generations.

Even those masterpieces of painting that seem familiar to us and studied almost millimeter by millimeter have their secrets. Almost every significant work of art has a mystery, a “double bottom” or a secret story that you want to uncover. Today we will share a few of them.

Bruegel's proverbs

The painting "Flemish Proverbs" by Pieter Bruegel the Elder can be called one of the largest and most fascinating puzzles. The artist depicted a land literally inhabited by Dutch proverbs!

About 112 idioms are recognized in the picture, some of them are known to you and me. Try searching for: “armed to the teeth,” “swimming against the tide,” or “banging your head against the wall.” Perhaps you can solve the rest? For example, those who talk about human stupidity or, conversely, about foresight?

Music of sin?

Hieronymus Bosch, "The Garden of Earthly Delights", 1500-1510. This painting has caused a lot of controversy since its birth, which continues 500 years later. One of the topics for research was the right side of the triptych, called “Musical Hell,” which depicts the torment of sinners in hell who are tortured using musical instruments. The researchers' attention was drawn to the notes written by the artist on... the buttocks of one of the sinners. The notes were rearranged in a modern way and... a melody from the underworld began to sound, which became a sensation.

And this is what the music sounds like, played according to the notes from the picture:

Two muses of one artist?

One of Rembrandt’s most famous paintings, “Danae,” received the nickname “two-faced.” X-ray photography showed that Danae’s face was painted twice: the first time it was an image similar to Saskia, the painter’s deceased wife, and the second, later one, resembles the face of his other lover, Gertje Dirks, who became the artist’s girlfriend after Saskia’s death.

Rembrandt Harmens van Rijn, "Danae", 1636 - 1647.

Dali's Revenge

The painting “Figure at a Window” was painted in 1925, when Dali was 21 years old. At that time, Gala had not yet entered the artist’s life, and his muse was his sister Anna Maria. The relationship between brother and sister deteriorated when he wrote in one of the paintings “sometimes I spit on the portrait of my own mother, and this gives me pleasure.” Anna Maria could not forgive such shocking behavior.

In her 1949 book, Salvador Dali Through the Eyes of a Sister, she writes about her brother without any praise. The book infuriated Salvador. For another ten years after that, he angrily remembered her at every opportunity. And so, in 1954, the painting “A Young Virgin Indulging in the Sin of Sodomy with the Help of the Horns of Her Own Chastity” appeared. The woman’s pose, her curls, the landscape outside the window and the color scheme of the painting clearly echo “Figure at the Window.” There is a version that Dali took revenge on his sister for her book.

Two sides of every person

Old Fisherman, Tivadar Kostka Chontvari, 1902. An old tired fisherman is a portrait of an ordinary person, like all of us and nothing more. What's the mystery here? No one could understand it during the artist’s lifetime. And its essence is that in each of us there lives an Angel and a Demon, in the soul of each there is God and there is a Devil. Place a mirror in the middle of the picture and you will see that in every person there can be both God and the Devil.

Austrian Mona Lisa

One of Klimt's most significant paintings depicts the wife of the Austrian sugar magnate Ferdinad Bloch-Bauer. All of Vienna was discussing the stormy romance between Adele and the famous artist. The wounded husband wanted to take revenge on his lovers, but chose a very unusual method: he decided to order a portrait of Adele from Klimt and force him to make hundreds of sketches until the artist began to vomit from her.

Gustav Klimt, "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer", 1907.

Bloch-Bauer wanted the work to last several years, so that the sitter could see how Klimt's feelings were fading. He made a generous offer to the artist, which he could not refuse, and everything turned out according to the scenario of the deceived husband: the work was completed in 4 years, the lovers had long since cooled off to each other. Adele Bloch-Bauer never knew that her husband was aware of her relationship with Klimt.

Mysteries of the Last Supper

Leonardo da Vinci, "The Last Supper", 1495-1498.

Leonardo da Vinci fresco "The Last Supper" 1495-1498. Over more than 5 centuries of existence, the famous fresco was destroyed and restored more than once (the last restoration lasted 21 years!). Many looked for secrets in it and found them - where did the “extra” hand with a knife come from? From whom did Leonardo paint Jesus and Judas?

Technologist Slavisa Pesci achieved the visual effect by superimposing its own translucent mirror reflection on top of the original, which revealed two additional figures at the edges of the picture and a woman standing to the left of Jesus with a baby.

Musician Giovanni Maria Pala interpreted the bread and hands on the table as a musical notation of a musical composition.

Researcher Sabrina Sforza Galitzia believes she has solved the puzzle contained in The Last Supper, which predicts a global flood that will begin on March 21, 4006 and mark the beginning of a new era for humanity.

Van Gogh's yellow bedroom

Vincent van Gogh, "Bedroom in Arles", 1888 - 1889.

In May 1888, Van Gogh acquired a small studio in Arles, in the south of France, where he fled from Parisian artists and critics who did not understand him. In one of the four rooms, Vincent sets up a bedroom. In October, everything is ready, and he decides to paint “Van Gogh’s Bedroom in Arles.” For the artist, the color and comfort of the room were very important: everything had to evoke thoughts of relaxation. At the same time, the picture is designed in alarming yellow tones.

Researchers of Van Gogh's work explain this by the fact that the artist took foxglove, a remedy for epilepsy, which causes serious changes in the patient's perception of color: the entire surrounding reality is painted in green and yellow tones.

Deceptions in painting

Sometimes the search for secrets in the paintings of famous artists reveals deception, voluntary or involuntary. This happened with Rembrandt's painting "The Night Watch" (1642). In fact, it was a day watch! It’s just that over the course of a couple of hundred years, during which the painting wandered through different halls until it fell into the hands of art critics, it managed to become covered with a thick layer of soot that darkened the entire background. After thoroughly cleaning the surface, details were discovered that confirmed the “day version” - the shadow from the captain’s hand falls in such a way that it can be assumed that the painting depicts a patrol that took to the city streets no later than 2 o’clock in the afternoon.

Rembrandt, "Night Watch", 1642.

Vincent van Gogh misled everyone with his Self-Portrait with a Pipe, in which he depicted himself with a bandaged ear. The ear was indeed damaged, but not the right one, but the left one. The deception is obvious and, most likely, accidental - he simply painted himself while looking in the mirror.

Vincent van Gogh, "Self-Portrait with a Pipe".

And one more deception that we all know from childhood from candy wrappers. The famous "Morning in the Pine Forest" (1889) by Ivan Shishkin, the greatest master of landscape. The artist, who painted landscapes beautifully, was afraid that his bears would not come out “alive” and truly touching. Therefore, he resorted to the help of another master animal artist, Konstantin Savitsky, who knew how to draw bears like no one else. Initially, the names of both authors were on the canvas, but... Tretyakov ordered the name of the animal painter to be washed off.

Ivan Shishkin, “Morning in the Pine Forest”, 1889.

Secrets of Gioconda

The famous “La Gioconda” exists in two versions: the nude version is called “Monna Vanna”, it was painted by the little-known artist Salai, who was a student and sitter of the great Leonardo da Vinci.

Many art historians are sure that it was he who was the model for Leonardo’s paintings “John the Baptist” and “Bacchus”. There are also versions that Salai, dressed in a woman’s dress, served as the image of the Mona Lisa herself.

The generally accepted opinion is that the Mona Lisa is perfection and her smile is beautiful in its mystery. However, American art critic (and part-time dentist) Joseph Borkowski believes that, judging by her facial expression, the heroine has lost many teeth. While studying enlarged photographs of the masterpiece, Borkowski also discovered scars around her mouth. “She “smiles” like that precisely because of what happened to her,” the expert believes. “Her facial expression is typical of people who have lost their front teeth.”

Overturned boat

Henri Matisse's painting "The Boat" was exhibited at the New York Museum of Modern Art in 1961. Only after 47 days did someone notice that the painting was hanging upside down. The canvas depicts 10 purple lines and two blue sails on a white background.

The artist painted two sails for a reason; the second sail is a reflection of the first on the surface of the water. In order not to make a mistake in how the picture should hang, you need to pay attention to the details. The larger sail should be the top of the painting, and the peak of the painting's sail should be toward the top right corner.

Henri Matisse, "The Boat", 1937.

Two "Breakfasts on the Grass"

The artists Edouard Manet and Claude Monet are sometimes confused - after all, they were both French, lived at the same time and worked in the style of impressionism. Monet even borrowed the title of one of Manet’s most famous paintings, “Luncheon on the Grass,” and wrote his own “Luncheon on the Grass.”

Edouard Manet, Luncheon on the Grass, 1863.

Claude Monet, Luncheon on the Grass, 1865.

How many more secrets, secret codes and messages, erroneous interpretations and deceptions are hidden in the paintings of great artists? Who knows, maybe they will be revealed literally tomorrow, or maybe only by the next generation of researchers.