how did we MISS this for 128 years?

Vincent van Gogh painted Irises in 1889, shortly after entering the Saint-Paul de Mausole hospital in France. But the painting we see today is not exactly what Van Gogh painted. Scientific analysis by the Getty revealed that many of the irises were not blue. Over more than a century, some of the pigments changed and faded. Using X-rays, chemical imaging, spectroscopy, and 3D reconstruction, researchers were able to study Van Gogh’s pigments, brushstrokes, and painting process, and recreate an idea of how Irises may have originally looked. This is the fascinating story of how science helped us see Van Gogh’s masterpiece again. #vangogh