“…irresistibly attracted to certain complications”: queering desire and painting in Italian Magic Realism

Abstract

This paper aims at a queer theoretical reading of what the painter Filippo de Pisis called “irresistible complications”, that is subtle deconstruction of heteronormative narratives, in Magic Realism paintings of the 1920s in Italy. Exemplified by rare emergences of the sociological reception of painted subjects concerning desire, the discussion takes into account two male painters, Felice Casorati and Ubaldo Oppi. Their works dedicated to disquieting female, same-sex affection (the typical subject of Le amiche) are analyzed through the lens of queer theory. René Girard’s triangular desire allows to articulate the thematic presence of the male gaze in this representation of sapphism.

Keywords

• triangular desire
• painting
• Magic Realism
• Sapphism
• art history