Vincent van Gogh: Newly discovered painting at National Galleries of Scotland will be an amazing sight when it’s revealed in all its glory – Susan Dalgety

I can’t begin to imagine the mounting excitement of the conservators at the National Galleries of Scotland as they realised they were holding a self-portrait of Vincent van Gogh.

Senior conservator Lesley Stevenson views Head of a Peasant Woman alongside an x-ray image of the hidden van Gogh self-portrait (Picture: Neil Hannah/PA Wire)

The painting, which shows the tortured but brilliant artist before he cut off his left ear, has been hidden under layers of glue and cardboard for more than 100 years.

It was only when another of his paintings, Head of a Peasant Woman, went under an x-ray that the ghostly image of Van Gogh was revealed. His work may now sell for tens of millions per painting, but he was broke for most of his career and often used both sides of a canvas.

I love Van Gogh’s exuberant work. His use of colour, his brush strokes, his energy, transformed everyday objects like a wooden chair or a vase of flowers into masterpieces.

During his short ten-year career, which ended tragically in his suicide, he helped shape modern art. His influence on contemporary culture is stronger today than it was at the height of his powers in the 1880s.

The exhibition Van Gogh Alive, which ended its run in the heart of Edinburgh yesterday, saw tens of thousands of people enjoy a glimpse of the artist’s genius.

It was a completely different experience to seeing his brush strokes up close in a museum. Some critics were quite sniffy about the “immersive, multi-sensory experience”, dismissing it as risible.

I found it quite exhilarating. A carefully chosen music score added to the enjoyment of experiencing Van Gogh presented for a 21st century audience, one more used to TikTok than a silent, reverential exhibition.

The thrill of the Sunflower selfie room (no, I didn’t take one) will be nothing to the shiver of delight when I see the X-ray of the newly found self-portrait at the National Galleries’ new exhibition, A Taste for Impressionism.

Over the coming months, conservators will bring all their experience and knowledge to bear as they carefully and very slowly peel away the detritus that has hidden the self-portrait from view. The pressure on them will be immense, but the reward, when Van Gogh’s face emerges, will be incalculable. I can’t wait to see it.