There Are Actual Hidden Messages in These Famous Works of Art

“Café Terrace at Night” by Vincent Van Gogh

When you first look at “Cafe Terrace at Night” by Vincent Van Gogh, it seems simple and straight-forward. It’s a scene of a beautiful French cafe lit up at night. However, in 2015, an art historian named Jared Baxter theorized that the painting is actually Vincent Van Gogh’s version of “The Last Supper”. If you look closely, there is one central figure with long hair, and they are surrounded by 12 people. One of them slips into the shadows, which could symbolize Judas. Baxter also theorizes that there are actually small crucifixes hidden throughout the painting. This actually isn’t too hard to believe, considering that Van Gogh tried to join the clergy, and he had a passion for spreading the gospel. Around the time that Vincent created that painting, he wrote in a letter to his brother Theo, “”tremendous need for, shall I say the word—for religion.”

“The Last Supper” by Leonardo Da Vinci

If you have ever read Dan Brown’s book The Da Vinci Code, you already know about the various mysteries that surround “The Last Supper” by Leonardo Da Vinci. This is considered to be the artist’s greatest work, and it was painted on a wall of the Santa Maria della Grazie church in Milan. One of the most popular theories is that the disciple John is actually Mary Magdalene. They sit at Jesus’ right hand, which is one of the most honorable places at the table. He/she is the only person in the painting wearing a large necklace, and they have long hair. This makes them look very feminine. There is also a “V” shape between the two of them, suggesting the female womb. Some theorize that this means Jesus and Mary had a baby together.

One of the most interesting discoveries made was by an Italian music technician named Giovanni Maria Pala, who claims that he uncovered secret musical notes hidden within “The Last Supper”. He did this by taking various elements in the painting, and giving them a numerical value based on Christian theology. By doing this, he was able to get musical notes. And when you play the song, it sounds like a requiem. When played on a pipe organ, it truly sounds like a song you would hear in church. This is still considered a plausible hypothesis, but has not been totally confirmed.

“The Prophet Zechariah” by Michelangelo

The painting called “The Prophet of Zechariah” by Michelangelo can be seen in the Sistine Chapel. In the painting, there seems to be a few silly secrets hidden. For example, if you look closely at the two cherubs leaning over Zechariah’s shoulder, their fingers are making a gesture called “flipping the fig”. This is where you put your thumb between middle and index figures. Back in the day, this was equivalent to giving the middle finger. A Rabbi named Benjamin Blech once told ABC News, “This perhaps is the key to understanding Michelangelo’s true feelings about the Pope, and the fact that Michelangelo did not hesitate to present us with messages that might’ve been offensive.”

“The Arnolfini Portrait” by Jan van Eyck

At first glance, the painting called The Arnolfini Portrait seems to be a very simple and straight-forward depiction of a wealthy merchant named Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his wife. However, if you look closely, you will see in the mirror that there are two other people entering the room. It’s widely believed that one of those figures is meant to be the artist, Van Eyck. There is also a Latin inscription on the wall above the mirror that says, “Jan van Eyck was here. 1434.” Like many portraits of the time, there are subtle clues left to portray the wealth of Mr. and Mrs. Arnolfini. The fabrics used in the scene, especially the fur lined-clothing, is a sign that they were a wealthy couple.

But one of the biggest hidden messages of all was the fact that Arnolfini’s wife had actually died 10 years before the painting was finished. Some believe that it took Van Eyck over ten years to finish the painting, while others believe that the man commissioned the painting in honor of his late wife. According to The Culture Trip, “the male figure’s loose grasp on the woman’s slipping hand, and the odd candles in the ornate chandelier – that on the man’s side is still whole and lit, while the opposite candle holder is empty aside from a few drops of wax, signifying that the man’s life light is still burning while hers has burnt out.”

“The Creation of Adam” by Michelangelo

The painting called “The Creation of Adam” by Michelangelo is one of nine panels that were painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo was an expert on human anatomy, and it shows, because he hid a human brain in “The Creation of Adam”. If you outline the pattern of God and the angels on the right, you’ll notice that it resembles the human brain. According to experts, they believe that all of the 9 panels contain hidden body part outlines, if you look closely enough. Another interpretation is that God is actually placed inside of a uterus, while Adam appears to be resting on top of a woman’s chest. And if you look close enough, Adam was painted with an extra rib. (According to the Bible story, Adam created Eve with one of his ribs.)

Bacchus by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

At first glance, there doesn’t seem to be much hidden in “Bacchus” by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. This is a famous portrait of the Greek god of wine, Dionysus. But with a technology called reflectography, art historians were able to discover a hidden image under the painting in 2009. On the bottom left of the painting, there is a hidden image of a man trapped inside of the carafe of wine. The man is sitting upright, and he has his arm held up to paint on a canvas. Pretty much everyone assumes that this is a hidden self-portrait of Caravaggio. In his personal life, Caravaggio was known to drink a lot and have terrible mood swings. When he drank, he often got into fights with people, and even committed murder. Maybe he painted himself trapped in the wine bottle to symbolize his battle with alcohol.

Another “hidden” fact about the Caravaggio painting is that most people speculate that the man in the portrait was his model and lover, Mario Minniti. Caravaggio was bisexual, and he was known to use both male and female lovers as his models. When you look at “Bacchus”, it truly does have a homo-erotic vibe. Dionysus looks at you with a seductive look in his eye. And if you look closely at the fruit basket, you’ll see a bursting pomegranate, which symbolizes temptation and fertility. But it’s sitting next to a rotting apple. Some art experts believe this is meant to symbolize that the joy of youth- fornication, drinking, and partying, is fleeting.

“The Ambassadors” by Hans Holbeinthe the Younger

When examining “The Ambassadors” by Hans Holbeinthe the Younger, it’s hard to believe that someone could have enough skill to paint the elongated skull that’s hidden on the floor between the two men’s feet. There is also a hidden crucifix on the top left. It looks like something done on modern-day Adobe Photoshop, rather than the 1500’s. The backstory of this painting is that the man on the left, Jean de Dinteville, was on his second diplomatic mission to England from France. On the right is his friend Georges de Selve, Bishop of Lavaur. There is a math book open on the table, which has a page open to division. This symbolizes the divide that happened when King Henry VIII broke away from the Catholic Church.

“Netherlandish Proverbs” by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

The painting “Netherlandish Proverbs” by Pieter Bruegel the Elder is almost like looking at “Where’s Waldo”. There is so much going on, it would take a long time to actually examine the entire painting. All of the characters in the painting represent some sort of proverb. For example, “Birds of a feather flock together”, “When the cat’s away, the mice will play”, “swimming against the tide,” “banging one’s head against a brick wall” and so much more. There are 112 proverbs hidden in the painting in total. If you want to put yourself up to the challenge of figuring them all out on your own, beware. There are many Dutch proverbs that are forgotten in modern times, or never really made their way over to the United States. Like “she puts a blue cloak on her husband”, which means that the wife is cheating on him.

“View of Scheveningen Sands” by Hendrick van Anthonissen

For 140 years, “View of Scheveningen Sands” looked a lot different from the image you see above. It was hanging in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England from 1878 to 2014. For all that time, the painting just looked like a group of people staring at nothing. But in reality, they were all staring at a beached whale! In 2014, a conservator named Shan Kuange was restoring the painting, and she removed a coat of yellow varnish. This revealed the hidden beach whale, and it totally solved the mystery of what these people were looking at. Kuang said the crude overpaint, which filled in the sea and shore where the whale had been, could have been added “because the presence of a dead animal was considered offensive” in the 18th or early 19th centuries.

“Madame X” by John Singer Sargent

Originally painted in 1884, this was a portrait of a socialite from Paris named Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau. She was an American who moved to Paris who became famous for her beauty. Rumor has it that she had many love affairs, and that she used her looks to climb the social ladder. In the original painting, the jeweled strap of her dress is slipping off her shoulder. When the painting was done, Virginie was thrilled, and she couldn’t wait to see the public’s reaction at the Paris Salon. However, the art was seen as beeing far too sexual, and it caused a huge scandal in upper-class society. Sargent painted over the straps, and renamed the painting to “Madame X” to protect her identity. This was so embarrassing for him, he actually had to move to London to escape the scandal!

“The Old Guitarist” by Pablo Picasso

During his Blue Period, artist Pablo Picasso painted “The Old Guitarist” in 1903, which has been considered one of his greatest works. But in 1998, art historians used an infrared camera to study the painting. They realized that Picasso had actually painted over another painting, which featured the image of a woman. As the years went on, the paint began to fade. If you look closely, you can see the woman’s face above the old man’s neck. Picasso painted this after one of his best friends, Casagemas, took his own life. In 1902, Picasso was essentially penniless, and struggled financially. So he really sympathized with people who were ill, homeless, and impoverished. “The Old Guitarist” represents what it’s like to live in poverty and emotional turmoil.

“Primavera” by Sandro Botticelli

The actual meaning of “Primavera” by Sandro Botticelli has been a subject of debate among art historians for years. It has been called “the most controversial painting in the world.” But what most people can agree on is that it celebrates the beginning of spring. There are several mythological figures in the painting, but the characters don’t match any known story. However, many art historians believe that it depicts the many stages of spring from right to left. The hidden “secret” of the painting is that there are over 200 different species of plants scattered throughout the painting. This would have been painstaking work to accurately depict all of these plants into a single painting. If we could speak to Botticelli today and ask him for the true meaning of “Primavera”, it’s likely that we would learn even more hidden secrets about this paintings than anyone ever anticipated.

“The Music Lesson” by Johannes Vermeer

At first glance, “The Music Lesson” by Johannes Vermeer seems to be an innocent image of a young woman learning how to play the piano. But in reality, it’s full of hidden symbols of sexuality. At first, it appears as though she is looking down at the keys. But if you look in the mirror, you can see that her face is turned, and her eyes locked with the gaze of her instructor. There are also small hidden symbols throughout the painting, like the wine on the table that is meant to be an aphrodisiac. There is also an instrument on the floor that apparently symbolizes the phallic symbol. Probably the most telling was the Latin inscription hidden in the painting that said, “‘Music is a companion in pleasure and a balm in sorrow.’ This painting was so sought-after, it became a part of the British Royal Collection Trust.

“Madonna with Saint Giovannino” by Domenico Ghirlandaio

One of the biggest reasons why people are talking about “Madonna with Saint Giovannino” by Domenico Ghirlandaio is because it’s speculated to have a hidden UFO painted in the background. Alien enthusiasts believe that this is proof that there was some sort of alien sighting way back in the 15th century. Other people believe that the flying object is meant to represent a passage from the Gospel of Luke that says, “Shepherds abiding in the field keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, an angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them.”

“The Birth of Venus” by Sandro Botticelli

At the time it was painted, “The Birth of Venus” by Sandro Botticelli was shocking, because of its use of nudity when depicting the goddess. However, there are many art historians who believe that he was even more bold than that. Many believe that the seashell is supposed to symbolize female genitalia. Just like his work “Primavera”, there is some debate over the deeper meaning of “The Birth of Venus”, because there is no record written by Botticelli explaining his work. But many scholars believe that the two paintings were commissioned by the Medici family. It’s likely that there are more secrets hidden in this painting, if only we could figure out how to interpret it properly.

“David and Goliath” by Michaelangelo

Just like the famous story from the Bible, this painting from the Sistine Chapel depicts the battle of David and Goliath. Earlier on this list, we already mentioned how Michaelangelo formed his figures into various shapes of body parts. This time, though, David’s stance is in the shape of the Hebrew word “gimel”. This means strength, and it can also represent “reward and punishment”. That works perfectly for this Bible story. At the time, Michelangelo had become interested in Judaism, and even painted the proportions of the ceiling that match those of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. The word gimel was hidden there, meant to find and spread the peace and love between Judaism and Christianity.

“Young Woman Powdering Herself” by Georges Seurat

At first glance, the painting called “Young Woman Powdering Herself” seems like a straight-forward portrait of a woman putting on makeup. But when you look at the painting under an X-ray, it reveals that the flower in the top left corner used to contain a hidden self-portrait of Seurat. According to legend, a friend saw this original version, and told him that it looked very strange. So he took his friend’s advice, and painted over the flower. Another hidden secret about this painting is that the woman is actually Madeleine Knobloch, Seurat’s 20-year-old mistress. He had never tried to paint any other self-portraits into his paintings like that in the history of his work. So clearly, this was some sort of secret homage to their relationship.

“The Persistence of Memory” by Salvador Dali

One of the most famous Salvador Dali paintings in the world is “The Persistence of Memory”, which features very surreal-looking clocks that are melting. A lot of people think that there must be some deep meaning behind the melting clocks. But in reality, they were based off of melting Camembert cheese. Dali once said that the clocks, “are nothing other than the tender, extravagant and solitary paranoiac-critical Camembert of time and space.” Dali would purposely give himself psychotic hallucinations by using drugs so that he could get into this state of being, and come up with completely insane works of art.

“Supper at Emmaus” by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

In the 1601 painting “Supper at Emmaus” by Caravaggio, it depicts the scene in the Bible where Jesus comes back from the dead, and reveals himself to his disciples Luke and Cleopas at an Inn. There is a shadow cast in the basket of fruit. But if you look closely at the wicker, there is the Ichthys emblem, which looks like a fish. (In modern times, a lot of people refer to the Ichthys emblem as the “Jesus Fish”, which is famously put all over t-shirts and bumper stickers.) This is popularly believed to be a reference to when Jesus magically fed a huge crowd of people with just a few fish.

“The Starry Night” by Vincent van Gogh

The famous painting “The Starry Night” by Vincent van Gogh was painted while he was living in a mental hospital. While it’s truly beautiful, many art historians attribute the swirls and the style of painting to his mental state. But in a 2014 TED Talk, a scientist named Natalya St. Clair revealed the hidden genius behind the painting. These swirls are actually a representation of an extremely complicated mathematical concept called “turbulent flow”. During her speech, St. Clair explains, “In 2004, using the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists saw the eddies of a distant cloud of dust and gas around a star, and it reminded them of Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night. That motivated scientists to study Van Gogh’s paintings in detail and when they did, they discovered that there is a distinct pattern of turbulent fluid structures hidden in many of Van Gogh’s paintings.”

“David” by Michelangelo

So far on this list, we have gone over paintings. But sculptures like Michelangelo’s “David” hold some hidden secrets as well. In 2007, the “Digital Michelangelo Project” from Stanford University discovered that if you look at the statue from below, David looks calm and confident. But when you look at the statue from above, he looks very tense, because he is getting ready to battle the giant Goliath. But that’s not all, if you look closely, you will notice that David’s right hand is very small, and out of proportion to the rest of his body.

“Patch of Grass” by Vincent van Gogh

At first glance, Vincent van Gogh’s “Patch of Grass” looks simple enough. It looks like grass sprinkled with colorful wildflowers from the countryside. But in 2008, scientists used an X-ray to examine the painting, and they discovered that there was a portrait of a peasant woman hidden underneath the grass. This was actually very common for Vincent Van Gogh’s early works. He was very poor, and wouldn’t have had a lot of money to buy new canvas. So at least one third of his early pieces actually have hidden paintings underneath them. Another example of this was from a painting called “Head of a Peasant Woman”. Just recently, in 2022, they discovered with X-rays that there was a hidden self-portrait of Van Gogh underneath.

“The Garden of Earthly Delights” by Hieronymus Bosch

Here is yet another painting that reminds me of “Where’s Waldo”. Artist Hieronymus Bosch created “The Garden of Earthly Delights” between 1490 and 1510. Yes- it took him literally 20 years to finish this masterpiece. There is so much to look at in this painting, that hidden messages were found as late as 2014, when a college student discovered hidden musical notes. In the lower left hand corner, there is a musical score tattooed on someone’s butt. When you play the music, it’s actually very creepy. In case you were wondering, of course there is a recording of it online, and you can listen to it here.

“Still Life with Cheeses, Almonds and Pretzels” by Clara Peeters

At first glance, the painting by Clara Peeters called “Still Life with Cheeses, Almonds and Pretzels” seems like a very typical still-life. You can see the various assortment of lunch time snacks laid out on the table. But if you look closely at the pewter lid of the jug in the center of the painting, you just might be able to see that Clara Peeters included her hidden self-portrait there. This is actually more impressive than you may think, because she would have had to paint in miniature in order to pull this off as well as she did.

“The Blue Room” by Pablo Picasso

When he was just 19 years old living in Paris, Pablo Picasso painted “The Blue Room”. It’s considered to be one of his earliest great masterpieces. In 2014, scientists used an X-ray to examine the painting, and found a hidden portrait of a man wearing a bowtie and resting his chin on his hand. No one knows who this man is, but we know that it is not a self-portrait. Some people speculate that it could be an art dealer named Ambroise Vollard, who was the host of Picasso’s first art show. Since he was young and impoverished, it’s really not surprising that he would reuse a canvas for a new project.

“Self Portraits” by Rembrandt van Rijn

The idea that artist used mirrors for their self-portraits seems pretty obvious. But in 2001, an artist named David Hockney worked together with a physicist named Charles Falso to “discover” that Rembrandt and many of the other Old Masters used curved mirrors and lenses to create their self-portraits. In 2016, the Journal of Optics explained even further how this could have been achieved. These mirror and lenses could be used to project the image onto the canvas, so Rembrandt could literally trace the real-life image. If this is true, it sort of takes away from the “genius” behind his incredibly life-like self portraits. However, many artists use tracing to help create their works of art, and very few actually work freehand in the way you would imagine.

“Portrait of a Woman” by Edgar Degas

Like many other artists we have mentioned already on this list, Edgar Degas was yet another painter who was forced to paint over old canvases when money was tight. In 2016, Australian researchers discovered a hidden painting behind “Portrait of a Woman”. Through x-ray technology, they were able to uncover a secret portrait of a woman named Emma Dobigny, who frequently sat as a model for Degas’ portraits as well as other artists at the time. Her face was flipped upside-down when it was re-used for his new painting. It’s honestly stunning, and a shame that he decided to paint over it. The painting of “Portrait of a Woman” still hangs in the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Australia.

“The Scream” by Edvard Munch

One of the most famous paintings in the world is “The Scream” by Edvard Munch from 1893. It features a man with his hands on his face, screaming into oblivion. In the painting itself, Munch wrote a secret message that said, “Can only have been painted by a madman.”in the upper left hand corner. Art scholars believe that he wrote that on his painting after his first exhibit, which was scrutinized by critics very harshly. This actually may have been a quote from one of the nasty comments he received for his work. And it’s true that Edvard Munch suffered from mental illness, because he was hospitalized for a nervous breakdown several years later, in 1908. Munch once wrote, “For as long as I can remember I have suffered from a deep feeling of anxiety, which I have tried to express in my art.”

“Head of a Peasant Woman” by Vincent Van Gogh

Originally created in 1885, “Head of a Peasant Woman” was set to premiere in an exhibit at the ​​Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh, Scotland in 2022. They noticed that the back of the painting was covered by layers of cardboard and glue. Using x-ray technology, they were able to find a hidden painting, which they believe to be one of Van Gogh’s earliest self portraits. When this painting went up for its exhibit, they used a special light box to help people see the x-ray so that they could experience the hidden painting for themselves. The museum is considering trying to remove the cardboard and glue to get a better view of the portrait, but it’s a delicate and time-consuming process.

How did we find this stuff? Here are our sources:

“25 Mind-Blowing Secrets Hidden in Famous Works of Art”. Best Life. 2019

“Mona Lisa’s Hidden Symbols? Researcher Says Yes“. CBS News. 2011

“Hidden Meanings and Secret Codes Buried in Da Vinci’s ‘The Last Supper'”. The Vintage News. 2019

Italian musician uncovers hidden music in Da Vinci’s ‘Last Supper’. Associated Press. YouTube. 2015.

The Meaning Of Jan Van Eyck’s The Arnolfini Portrait. The Culture Trip. 2018

“Bacchus” by Caravaggio – Analyzing the Famous Painting of Dionysus. Art in Context. 2022

​​450-Year-Old Painting Contains Over 100 Proverbs We Still Use Today. The Modern Met. 2022.

Whale of a Discovery Hidden in Dutch Masterpiece. NBC News.

The Supper at Emmaus: A coded symbol hidden in a masterpiece. BBC. 2021.

The Mirrors Behind Rembrandt’s Self-Portraits. The New York Times. 2016.

A hidden self-portrait has been discovered by X-ray on the back of a Van Gogh painting. CBS News. 2022.