Experts found under the upper layer of the painting by Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin a previously painted portrait of Alexander Pushkin

Experts of the Russian Museum found under the upper layer of the painting “Collective Farm Women” (1937–1939) by Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin a previously painted portrait of Alexander Pushkin (1930s). As the head of the technological department of the Russian Museum, Sergei Sirro, noted, the outline of another image under the picture can also be seen by visual inspection, but to see the image under the top layer, the specialists needed special equipment.

“We managed to identify the person who is depicted under these women workers. Here is the poet's head, shoulders, and a frock coat, he is sitting on the couch, ”Mr. Sirro said. He added that earlier it was believed that the artist did not like the portrait he painted and he destroyed it, so the work was considered lost.

The painting “Collective Farm Women” was painted in 1937–1939. The portrait of Pushkin, according to Cirro, dates back to the early 1930s.

As Sergey Sirro explained, the portrait of Pushkin for almost 80 years was considered lost. It used to be that Petrov-Vodkin destroyed the work he had written, because the artist found it insufficiently successful. “Later found a trim picture. In fact, the artist cut off the lower part of the canvas and wrote these women workers, ”said Sirro.