The Enchanted Pose rediscovered – When a Magritte hides a Magritte...

By Michael Duffy, Painting Conservator, and Danielle Johnson, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Painting and Sculpture - Museum of Modern Art, New York

During the preparation of the exhibition ‘Magritte: The Mystery of the Ordinary, 1926-1938’, held in New York until January 2014, the MOMA team found a hidden Magritte under another Magritte. After scientific studies and graphic comparisons, MOMA and the Art Institute of Chicago were able to assign these hidden fragments to a painting called ‘La Pose enchantée’(‘The Enchanted Pose’) (1927). The adventure did not stop there because there are still two fragments, hidden in existing collections. This painting can only be recomposed in its integrity when these are found. Michael Duffy, the restorer who discovered this hidden treasure, and Danielle Johnson, assistant curator of the department of painting and sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art will come from New York specifically to share this adventure that led to the identification of these fragments of ‘La Pose enchantée’.

In partnership with Le Vif/L’Express – Knack