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  • - In preparation for the Magritte exhibition,

  • we began examining The Portrait, from 1935.

  • What started as a fairly routine conservation treatment

  • uncovered some very interesting details

  • about Magritte's painting.

  • As soon as we unframed The Portrait,

  • we noticed something unusual.

  • The paint actually went around the edges,

  • and it was painted on all four sides.

  • That was unusual for Magritte,

  • because normally, you can see

  • the white, priming layer on all the edges.

  • - We began with our normal examination process,

  • which involves taking the painting into the photo studio.

  • In ultraviolet, I noticed that there was

  • some sort of discoloration that was occurring,

  • that it wasn't clear if it was in the varnish

  • that was present,

  • or something coming from beneath the surface.

  • Proceeding with the cleaning,

  • I used a solvent-based solution to remove the varnish,

  • and once that was complete,

  • again took the painting back into the photo studio.

  • I could still see that form underneath,

  • but it was even more robust.

  • What was happening, is,

  • something underneath was fluorescing differently

  • than the upper paint layer.

  • In the darkroom, I held each x-ray film

  • up to the light box,

  • but you can only see one film at a time,

  • and it looked very unusual.

  • It looked like there was something else

  • underneath the bottle,

  • something else underneath the plate,

  • something else underneath the glass.

  • But without having them all together,

  • I couldn't make it out,

  • and it just looked like a series

  • of confusing brush strokes.

  • I actually rotated the x-ray to the left, 90 degrees.

  • I spent about a half an hour

  • sitting on the floor in front of it,

  • tracing my finger long it until I could

  • make out the form underneath.

  • I moved them closer and closer and let them overlap,

  • and I could see the outline of a nude woman beneath.

  • I was shocked and immediately got out my phone

  • and took pictures and texted my colleagues

  • to get the word out as fast as possible.

  • - After seeing this incredible image emerge

  • from underneath the portrait,

  • we were immediately wanting to know what the source was.

  • One of my colleagues from the Menil Collection

  • happened to be here and see it,

  • and suggested a painting that was actually

  • done by Magritte in 1927,

  • and was thought to be lost.

  • This work under The Portrait actually matched

  • a quarter of a section of The Enchanted Pose,

  • which was a much larger painting.

  • Now, we believe that he must have cut up the painting

  • into four sections and re-used the sections

  • for paintings in 1935.

  • - I've been working at MoMA

  • for a little over five years now,

  • and been fortunate enough to help with

  • a lot of x-radiography that is performed here,

  • but this was a first for me,

  • and probably the opportunity of a lifetime.

- In preparation for the Magritte exhibition,

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