Magical Realism

Magical Realism

Magic realism introduces elements of fantasy to reality, or captures reality in a fantastical style.

In central Europe, magical realism emerged as a response to modern and avant-garde art, marking a return to more traditional forms of expression following World War I. Prominent magic realist artists included Giorgio de Chirico, Alberto Savinio, Alexander Kanoldt, and Adolf Ziegler, among others.

In literature, the critic Angel Flores used the term in 1955 to describe the works of writers like Jorge Luis Borges and Gabriel García Márquez, and it has since become a significant but occasionally debated literary classification.


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painted bronze carrot reclining seductively on a white marble countertop

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Parra's studio, with Parra at the centre, his back to the camera as he works on the large painting takes centre stage, showing a faceless blue woman in a striped dress, painted in red, purple, blue and teal. The studio is full of brightly coloured paints, with a large window on the right and a patterned rug across the floor under the painting.