On the back of Fernand Léger’s “Bastille Day” is a painting that’s been believed to have been missing for over 100 years!

Transcript

This is a painting by Fernand Léger. It was believed to have been lost for the last 100 years. It’s been found, but not how you might think!

It’s believed that an unnamed piece from his “Smoke over the Rooftops” series was discovered on the back of “Bastille Day” that he painted in late 1912.

“Bastille Day” was sold to the Dutch Triton Foundation in 1999 and they own it now.

In 2016, they had restoration work done to “Bastille Day” and, apparently, restorers noticed something strange on the back. They had to remove a bunch of white-grey material as well as a backing board.

When they peeled the backing board off, they noticed that there were distinctive painted forms and colors, depicting billowing smoke.

This newly discovered painting is going to be displayed at the Kröller-Müller Museum in the Netherlands from November 19, 2022 – April 2, 2023.

For the first time in its history, it’s going to be placed in a glass cabinet so you can see the paintings on either side!

🎧 Listen to the full episode here.