This undated handout image provided by The Phillips Collection shows Picasso's "The Blue Room," painted in 1901. Scientists and art experts have found a hidden painting beneath it. Photo: AP Photo/The Phillips Collection
Investigating An Art Mystery

Scholars have decided that it was not a self-portrait. ###### Vollard hosted Picasso's first show in 1901. But there's no documentation and there are no clues left on the canvas, so the research continues.

Experts from The Phillips Collection, National Gallery of Art, and other museums and universities have worked to study the painting over the past five years. ###### A technical study confirmed further information about it. The hidden portrait is a work the Spanish artist likely painted just before "The Blue Room," curators said.

Since the portrait was discovered, conservators have been using other technology to scan the painting for more clues. ###### They would like to recreate a digital image approximating the colors Picasso used.

Curators are planning the first exhibit focused on "The Blue Room" for 2017. It will examine the discovery of the man's portrait beneath the painting, as well as other Picasso works and his engagement with other artists.

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Mustached Man, Meet Bow-Tied Man

Hidden pictures have been found under other important Picasso paintings. A technical study of "La Vie" revealed Picasso changed the painting's composition significantly. And conservators found a portrait of a mustached man beneath Picasso's painting "Woman Ironing."

###### She said new knowledge about Picasso and his process can be discovered through the high-tech efforts of museums working together.]]>