The restorers of the Guggenheim Museum in New York discovered a small dog in Pablo Picasso’s “Moulin de la Galette” painting. The animal was painted for some reason, so no one noticed before. The image of a magical bolo with a red bow was discovered by museum experts during the technical analysis of the painting on the eve of the exhibition of Picasso’s early works.

“Moulin de la Galette” depicts a lively scene in a famous dance hall in Paris, also painted by many other artists, including Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Picasso’s painting shows a couple and three figures sitting at a table in the foreground.

The fourth guest at the table is hidden under a dark layer of paint. Its original appearance was revealed using X-ray fluorescence, an imaging method that reflects chemical elements in a painting, including pigments.

The museum noted that the dog looked very similar to a Cavalier King Charles spaniel. According to Guggenheim senior painting restorer Julie Barten, Picasso may have hid the dog, finding his mouth and “attractive onion” too distracting.

The specialist added that in the original performance without the dog, the audience could take a closer look at all these other wonderful figures in the composition – feel the space in a different way.

Stating that changing paintings later became part of Picasso’s regular practice, Barten added that “Moulin de la Galette” is now considered an early example of this. Opening Friday at the Guggenheim Museum, the new exhibition “Young Picasso in Paris” features 10 paintings and drawings that the artist made after arriving in the French capital in 1900.