Why Magical Realism Shapes My Work

“I paint what I see inwardly, not what stands physically before me. Not fantasy, but inner realities.”

Close Up – Dreamland – 2025

magical realism in my painting

Magical realism in Dutch contemporary art is my field; there I let reality and personal symbols meet. It gives me the freedom to speak from my imagination. It gives me a profound sense of freedom to remain outside the purely realistic. In my work, collective emotion and personal memory find their form within magical realism, on the edge between subtle and expressive fierce. As a female artist, I invite the viewer into a dialogue between what is seen and what is felt. I observe, feel, and create. I paint what I see inwardly—not what stands physically before me—an approach inspired by Michael Parkes. It isn’t fantasy; it is the visual form of inner realities.

Nature as a Companion

My roots lie along the Dutch coastline, where wind and sea shape both land and memory. As a child, I often stood with my father and brother on the beach during storms, watching the primal force of nature unfold. That chaotic rhythm has become a lasting presence within me.

In my work, nature is never just a backdrop. It is a companion, sometimes even a challenger. In my Icelandic Houses series, human structures enter into dialogue with overwhelming landscapes. The house is not defeated, but it does not conquer either, it simply exists within a larger rhythm. In my work, reality and imagination flow into each other.

magical realism in my work

As a contemporary Dutch female artist, I am drawn to the space where imagination and reality flow into each other. Magical realism gives me the freedom to transform emotions into images, to combine gentleness with rawness, and to invite the viewer into a dialogue between what is seen and what is felt.

Inner Realities, Not Fantasy

Magical realism lets me translate what is inwardly true into visible form. I don’t invent escapist scenes; I reveal inner landscapes, memories, tension, tenderness, and strength, until they read as presence on the surface. This is why a house, a hare, or a deer in my work never feels decorative. They are vessels for inner realities, recognized more by feeling than by logic.

Symbols: The Hare and the Deer

Over time, the hare, who is an symbolic figure in my work, grew stronger, more defiant. And then the deer appeared. Standing proud and luminous on a dune, the deer became a new presence: a symbol of transformation and grounded strength. These animals are not chosen consciously; they emerge intuitively, carrying meanings I often only recognize afterward. Through them, my personal stories become universal presences, fragile, strong, and deeply human.

Stories are at the heart of my practice. As a child, my father told me fables about Drasper the Hare, a clever and resourceful character who always found a way forward. Years later, those stories resurfaced in my sketches, women carrying small hare dolls, symbols of resilience and survival.

“Through magical realism in Dutch contemporary art, I connect collective themes of vulnerability,
resilience, and hope to universal human stories.”

– Leonoor Ruigrok – formerly LACE Ruig

Combining the Gentle and the Raw

I don’t limit myself to fine painting alone. My process combines refined brushwork with my own expressive handwriting, letting intuition break through precision. This tension between control and freedom feels essential to me. In my journey, magical realism in Dutch contemporary art gives me the space to explore that tension.

In every series, I allow opposites to coexist: the gentle and the raw, the still and the expressive. My paintings are built as visual stories, rich in symbolism, from mythical female figures to natural symbols and inner landscapes. In color and contrast, emotions come to the surface: the softness of pink against raw blues and greens, crowned with white highlights.

What may look tender at first often carries an undercurrent of strength, drive, and inner movement. I paint what I feel, not to explain, but to open.

The Raw Edge of Magical Realism

For me, the raw side of magical realism lies in its ability to hold contradictions. My paintings often emerge from a deep emotional or social feeling, something that simply insists on being given form. From there, I create my own worlds, where light and dark, hope and unease, fragility and strength exist in visual dialogue.

The canvas becomes my visual notebook, a place to translate emotions into images that speak both personally and universally. Through symbolism, I explore vulnerability, power, helplessness, and hope, not as fixed answers, but as layered presences. In this sense, magical realism is not an escape but a confrontation: it allows me to shape the feelings I experience into narratives that invite others to recognize their own stories.

Baroque Energy and Storytelling

Magical realism also allows me to weave storytelling into visual form. Influences such as Louise Bourgeois’ raw honesty and Anselm Kiefer’s material intensity inspire me to let imperfection and tactility carry meaning. From literature, Kafka’s visions of oppressive systems or Bordewijk’s sharp structures of authority, I learned how narratives can expose tension, order, and chaos.

In my own work, these influences become archetypical forms: fences, lines, houses, and animals. They carry symbolic weight far beyond representation. They are vessels of meaning, connecting deeply personal emotions to broader human questions.

Feeling as the New Thinking

For me, art is not a solution, but a place where the value of searching itself becomes visible. That is what magical realism offers: a language that can hold clarity and confusion, strength and fragility, all within one frame.

I believe that feeling is the new thinking. My art is not meant to instruct, but to open. To create spaces where the viewer can step in, recognize fragments of themselves, and shape the story further. That is how magical realism shapes my work, and, I believe, also contemporary Dutch art.

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Curious to drop by my studio in Voorhout, interested in one of my works, or thinking about a potential collaboration? I’d be glad to hear from you. I enjoy working with collectors, curators, galleries, designers, architects, interior creatives, and brands.

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CONtact Leonoor RUIGrok