A magnetic radial bearing with low eddy current losses is made compact and easily actuable. For this purpose, a radial bearing with four coils (S1, S2, S3, S4) is proposed, said coils lying opposite one another in pairs on two axes (X, Y). The coils are controlled by a three-phase current (U, V and W). The amplitudes of the currents of the phases (U, V and W) are each evaluated using a sine function which is phase-shifted with respect to one another through 120 DEG. The control is performed by a control device at a variable operating point, which fixes the value for the evaluation of the amplitudes for the individual phases corresponding to the respective sine function.