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
WASHINGTON - The year 1901 was a big one for Pablo Picasso. The painter was just 19 years old and living in Paris. Picasso was trying to find his own style of painting. He painted furiously and was very poor. ######

Now scientists and art experts say they've found a hidden painting. It is from that time period. They used infrared technology on "The Blue Room," one of Picasso's earliest important paintings. Underneath it they discovered a hidden painting of a bow-tied man. ###### His picture was lying beneath the surface of the other painting.

Now conservators who own the painting want to know: Who is he?

It's a mystery. But it's encouraging new detective work on the painting."The Blue Room" was made early in Picasso's life. ###### During that time, he painted many sad subjects.

"When he had an idea, you know, he just had to get it down and realize it," Susan Behrends Frank said. She is the curator of the Phillips Collection, which owns the painting. She described how Picasso had quickly painted "The Blue Room" over another whole picture." ###### He worked sometimes on cardboard. Canvas was so much more expensive."

Something Must Be Under There

Experts had suspected there might be something under the surface of "The Blue Room." Some brushstrokes on the painting clearly don't match what you can see. ######

A conservator found the odd brushstrokes in 1954. It wasn't until the 1990s that anyone used an X-ray on the painting. When they did, it revealed a fuzzy image of something under the picture.]]>