In Milan the 'magic realism' between style and movement

MILAN - It is a reality so real that it becomes mysterious and subtly disturbing, that of 'Magic Realism', an artistic movement of the early twentieth century to which Palazzo Reale is dedicating a major exhibition, open from 19 October to 27 February.

For the occasion, more than eighty masterpieces by authors such as Antonio Donghi, Cagnaccio di San Pietro, Felice Casorati were brought together in an installation curated by Studio Mario Bellini with Raffaele Cipolletta.

"An expressive modality that, purified from the tensions of futurism and expressionism, works - explain the curators, Gabriella Belli and Valerio Terraroli - on a new rendering of the image that presents itself to the observer as 'cold', clear, often investigated in the smallest details, so realistic that it inevitably turns out to be disturbing and alienating '". Palazzo Reale had already dedicated an exhibition to the current, 33 years ago, with the same title as the one that opens tomorrow, and which is one of the great exhibitions of the Milanese autumn. Compared to then, however, the perception of what is no longer seen only as a style but as a real movement has changed, despite the lack of a manifesto and the - all in all - short duration, a decade or so, With the'apex in the 1920s. "This proposal systematizes the theme and frees the artists - explains Belli - from the yoke of the Novecento movement by Margherita Sarfatti. At the narrative level we have made a careful and rigorous selection to make it clear that there is a style, that of magical realism, which never was recognized as an autonomous movement, but which in fact is ". This starts from the modalities of painting, with the rediscovery of authors such as Giotto, Masaccio, Piero Della Francesca, revisited in the light of the avant-gardes, passing through the themes, which go beyond the homeland-family-work triad imposed by the regime.At the narrative level, we made a careful and rigorous selection to make it clear that there is a style, that of magical realism, which was never recognized as an autonomous movement, but which in fact is. "This starting from the modalities of painting, with the rediscovery of authors such as Giotto, Masaccio, Piero Della Francesca, revisited in the light of the avant-gardes, passing through the themes, which go beyond the homeland-family-work triad imposed by the regime.At the narrative level, we made a careful and rigorous selection to make it clear that there is a style, that of magical realism, which was never recognized as an autonomous movement, but which in fact is. "This starting from the modalities of painting, with the rediscovery of authors such as Giotto, Masaccio, Piero Della Francesca, revisited in the light of the avant-gardes, passing through the themes, which go beyond the homeland-family-work triad imposed by the regime.that go beyond the homeland-family-work triad imposed by the regime.that go beyond the homeland-family-work triad imposed by the regime.

"It was an anti-political movement and this, in years of regime - says Belli - is called dissent, so much so that Felice Casorati himself ended up in prison". To clearly indicate the position with respect to the regime, a masterpiece such as 'After the orgy' by Cagnaccio di San Pietro, which punishes the moral drift of the regime and not surprisingly was rejected by the 1928 Biennale, where Margherita Sarfatti sat in the commission. That of magical realism is a parable that runs out quickly, partly due to the power of the Sarfattian current, partly because from the 1930s regime painting became dominant. Donghi and Cagnaccio di San Pietro still continue on their path, that of a stripped-down painting, made up of close perspectives and a critique of the regime made in a non-explicit way,but telling the real in a subtly ambiguous way. Just think of the woman, who from the queen of the home becomes an object body, or the frozen couples like Antonio Donghi's 'Lovers at the station' and even the children, to whose portraits the exhibition dedicates a thematic room. A sense of melancholy and loneliness that also pervades the 'Portrait of the wife in the background of Venice', 'The friends' by Ubaldo Oppi, 'Silvana Cenni' by Felice Casorati. A lucidly astonished vision of reality that does not remain isolated, but is combined with other currents such as the German Neue Sachlickheit (New Objectivity), equally crossed by the anxieties of the early twentieth century.or to the frozen couples like Antonio Donghi's 'Lovers at the station' and even to the children, to whose portraits the exhibition dedicates a thematic room. A sense of melancholy and loneliness that also pervades the 'Portrait of the wife in the background of Venice', 'The friends' by Ubaldo Oppi, 'Silvana Cenni' by Felice Casorati. A lucidly astonished vision of reality that does not remain isolated, but is combined with other currents such as the German Neue Sachlickheit (New Objectivity), equally crossed by the anxieties of the early twentieth century.or to the frozen couples like Antonio Donghi's 'Lovers at the station' and even to the children, to whose portraits the exhibition dedicates a thematic room. A sense of melancholy and loneliness that also pervades the 'Portrait of the wife in the background of Venice', 'The friends' by Ubaldo Oppi, 'Silvana Cenni' by Felice Casorati. A lucidly astonished vision of reality that does not remain isolated, but is combined with other currents such as the German Neue Sachlickheit (New Objectivity), equally crossed by the anxieties of the early twentieth century.Silvana Cenni 'by Felice Casorati. A lucidly astonished vision of reality that does not remain isolated, but is combined with other currents such as the German Neue Sachlickheit (New Objectivity), equally crossed by the anxieties of the early twentieth century.Silvana Cenni 'by Felice Casorati. A lucidly astonished vision of reality that does not remain isolated, but is combined with other currents such as the German Neue Sachlickheit (New Objectivity), equally crossed by the anxieties of the early twentieth century.