Gabriel García Márquez’s masterpiece 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' (1967) popularized 'Magical Realism' on a global scale. This literary style treats the supernatural as a normal part of everyday life. For example, in the novel, a character is followed everywhere by yellow butterflies, and a beautiful woman simply floats up to heaven while hanging out laundry. Márquez drew inspiration from the stories his grandmother told him, which blended superstition and local history with a completely straight face. Writing the book was a financial gamble; he sold his car and his household appliances to support his family while he wrote for 18 months. The book became a sensation, selling millions of copies and winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982, cementing the 'Latin American Boom' as a major force in 20th-century art.