There’s a certain kind of artwork that makes you pause, not because it’s loud or surreal in an obvious way, but because something feels just slightly off. A figure floats, but no one seems surprised. Light bends in impossible ways, yet the room feels familiar. A moment unfolds that is both completely ordinary and quietly enchanted.
That space, where reality and the inexplicable coexist without conflict, is the heart of magical realism.
Where the Term Began
The term magical realism originated not in literature, as many assume, but in visual art. In 1925, German art critic Franz Roh coined the term Magischer Realismus to describe a style of painting that presented the real world with a heightened sense of mystery. Rather than distorting reality (as Surrealism often did), these artists rendered the visible world with precision—yet infused it with a subtle, uncanny presence.
Later, the term was embraced by Latin American writers such as Gabriel García Márquez, and it became widely associated with literature. But its roots remain deeply embedded in painting and visual storytelling—where the ordinary becomes luminous, and the familiar feels charged with something just beyond explanation.
What Defines Magical Realism in Art?
Magical realism is not fantasy. It doesn’t rely on elaborate mythologies or invented worlds. Instead, it:
-
Grounds itself in recognizable, everyday settings
-
Presents impossible or dreamlike elements as natural and unquestioned
-
Maintains technical realism in form and detail
-
Creates a quiet tension between what is seen and what is felt
The magic is never explained. It simply exists.
This genre asks the viewer to suspend disbelief—not dramatically, but gently. It invites us to consider that the extraordinary might already be woven into the fabric of daily life.
Why We Love Magical Realism
As a gallery, we are continually drawn to artists who inhabit this space between clarity and mystery. Magical realism allows for profound emotional storytelling. It offers intimacy without sentimentality, symbolism without spectacle.
There is something deeply human about it.
The works we’re most compelled by don’t shout. They whisper. They suggest that beneath the surface of every quiet room, every still figure, every stretch of landscape, something is unfolding that we can sense—but not fully articulate.
That tension is what keeps us looking.
A Summer Celebration of Magical Realism
This summer, we’re thrilled to bring that shared fascination into focus with a group exhibition dedicated to magical realism. The show will gather some of our favorite artists from across the country—each exploring the genre in their own distinct voice.
The exhibition will be anchored by Erik Johnson and Robert Lange, two artists whose work exemplifies the quiet power of this genre. Their ability to balance precision with poetry, narrative with atmosphere, makes them a natural foundation for the show.
Around them, we’ll present a diverse collection of painters whose work navigates memory, symbolism, light, and the psychological spaces between reality and dream.
We can’t wait to share more details in the coming months.
Magical realism reminds us that wonder doesn’t require spectacle. Sometimes it’s simply a shift in perspective—a recognition that the world, exactly as it is, already contains the miraculous.
Stay tuned for more about the summer exhibition. It’s going to be something special.
