"Brave new world"

Art Since 1927, one of art world's minor mysteries was the whereabouts of a Magritte painting, La Pose Enchantée (The Enchanted Pose) which achieved some acclaim back then and fell into obscurity. It's recently been found, but in an unlikely place. Art in America picks up the story:

"The mystery of a lost Rene Magritte canvas missing for nearly 80 years has been solved by conservators and curators at New York's Museum of Modern Art amid preparation for an upcoming exhibition.

"While the painting did not end up in an oven, as is feared of some other 20th-century masterworks, it was destroyed—in this case by the "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" painter himself, who recycled the canvas as the support for other, smaller works. Curator Anne Umland and conservator Michael Duffy described their unexpected findings, and their hopes for future discoveries, in a recent conference call with A.i.A."

And do they. The Guardian has an interactive to demonstrate the find.