Magical realism art prints
In 1925 the German critic Franz Roh gave a name to a new kind of painting: Magic Realism. These painters showed ordinary people and objects with such stillness and precision that the scene turns uncanny.
In Italy between the wars, painters such as Bruno Croatto made portraits so smooth and exact that time seems to stop. The Mask, a pale woman in a black silk mask, is the first painting in this room.
Questions about magical realism
What is magic realism in art?
Magic Realism is a style of painting from the 1920s and 1930s, named by the German critic Franz Roh in 1925. It shows everyday subjects in sharp, calm detail, with a stillness that makes them feel strange or dreamlike.
Is magical realism the same as surrealism?
No. Surrealism invents impossible scenes from dreams. Magic Realism paints real, possible scenes, and the strangeness comes from the stillness and precision of the painting.