Realismo magico L'incanto nella pittura italiana degli anni Venti e Trenta

Following Umberto Boccioni and Un’eterna bellezza, MART is hosting Realismo Magico, their third exhibition of the season dedicated to Italian art in the early 20th century.

The book explores the evolution of Magical Realismin Italy through a selection of masterpieces from important art collections, both public and private. It investigates the complex sources of inspiration and different undercurrents within the Italian movement and hopes to shed light on the escapism and unconventional interpretation of the world that made Magical Realism so appealing.

The term itself was coined by art critic Franz Roh in his famous 1925 essay on contemporary painting. The name Magical Realism encompasses an international art current which reached its creative peak in the 1920s and 30s. Coming on the heels of the Avant-Garde movement, Magical Realism was devoted to the rediscovery of traditional painting and sculpting techniques.

The term “realism”, which implies an objective representation of reality, is tempered by the surreal and dreamy atmospheres evoked by the term “magical” which defines this movement. Reality is the starting point of a metamorphosis warped by the artist’s imagination and vision. Cagnaccio di San Pietro, Felice Casorati, Antonio Donghi, Achille Funi, Carlo Levi and Ubaldo Oppi are some of the movement’s leading figures.