Magic realism

Often categorized as surrealistic, they differ as the images are deliberately planned and result from conscious thought

Ships become clouds and towns become cobblestone streets in the magical realist works of Rob Gonsalves.

Grant Wood painted this portrait the way a theater director puts on a show. First he discovered the setting. Wood saw the house, now famous for inspiring American Gothic, in a small Iowa town and knew it had to be in a painting. Then he cast his sister and dentist to play the two roles. Many presume them farmer and daughter. But that’s never been nailed down. In fact, the painter left it ambiguous on purpose. Learn more with a click to LadyKflo’s Art Blog. #americangothic #grantwood #region

George Tooker grew frustrated with the bureaucracy while trying to obtain building permits for a house he bought in New York.

Paintings that are not what they seem at the beginning, bigger images in the post, to appreciate all of the details. Rob Gonsalves, not only has he been featured on DesignStack before, but is currently the most popular post of all time on our site, with 195,752 views, to date. I will put a link to his previous work here, or you can look at the right hand column, of the page, further down. Gonsalves always enjoyed daydreaming from a young age. As he grew up, he took a different path, working…

The magic realism and surrealism art of Paul Bond.

Self-taught artist hailing from Detroit, Michigan, Andrea Kowch's works have been compared to famed American realist painter, Andrew Wyeth.

Like a double-exposed photograph or hazy dream, Eric Roux-Fountaine’s paintings capture worlds just slightly outside of our known reality, magical moments dotted with starlight and ghostly orbs. Within the softly painted works, tightrope walkers teeter through tall forests at dusk, while couples zing through the air on carnival rides set in front of the moon. Roux-Fountaine approaches each of his paintings in the same way a director might work with a film, casting the characters of his works…

Belinda Eaton

What is magical realism? Is it, like, realism that’s so good, it’s magical? Not quite. Here's a handy for-beginner’s guide to one of the trendiest literary genres of the 20th century.