Magic

This visually stunning volume traces the history of magic in art through an astonishing progression of paintings, sculptures, prints, and decorative arts, from prehistoric cave paintings and ancient Egyptian carvings to Japanese ghost scrolls, Renaissance masterpieces, Surrealism, and contemporary art. Canonical masterpieces by Botticelli, Bosch, Dürer, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Goya, Klee, Magritte, Chagall, Warhol, Louise Bourgeois, and Kiki Smith appear alongside Maya ritual imagery, Vodou ceremonies, and other unexpected discoveries that forge surprising connections across cultures and centuries. Witches’ sabbaths, enchanted forests, fortune tellers, fairy queens, magical transformations, and uncanny visions unfold across spectacular reproductions. Brief essays accompany each image, illuminating the folklore, symbolism, religious traditions, and cultural beliefs behind its creation while showing how artists across cultures and centuries have drawn on the supernatural as a source of mystery, wonder, fear, and inspiration