A NEW VAN Gogh painting has been discovered by art historians at the Kröller-Müller Museum in the Netherlands.

Experts made the find, the museum has stated, after x-raying a piece that had been attributed to an unknown artist.  The x-rays revealed an image of two wrestlers fighting underneath the painting of a floral still life.

The ‘Still life with meadow flowers and roses’ painting has been in doubt since 1974, when it was first added to the museum’s collection. In 2003 it was listed as anonymous due to the uncertainty over the signature and canvas size. Since then it has hung in the museum with no owner attributed to it.

Nine years on, researchers decided to take another look. With the latest high-tech x-ray imaging, art historians can now look behind the image of a painting to see what was painted on the canvas underneath. This new research technique made it possible to analyse both paintings in greater detail.

The x-rays shows the two men in the painting wearing loin cloths and grasping each other by the arms. It is believed that Van Gogh painted the picture while he attended the Antwerp academy in 1886.

The painting will now be moved to a more prominent position in the museum among many of Van Gogh’s other pieces.