Magnetic resonance (MR) spins are inverted by applying an inversion recovery (IR) radio frequency pulse (50). MR signals are acquired at an inversion time (TI) after the IR radio frequency pulse. TI is selected such that a first tissue of interest (e.g., blood) exhibits negative magnetism excited by the IR radio frequency pulse and a second tissue (e.g., intraplaque hemorrhage tissue) exhibits positive magnetism excited by the IR radio frequency pulse. The acquired magnetic resonance signals are reconstructed to generate spatial pixels or voxels wherein positive pixel or voxel values indicate spatial locations of positive magnetism and negative pixel or voxel values indicates spatial locations of negative magnetism. A first image (28) representative of the first tissue is generated from spatial pixels or voxels having negative signal intensities, and a second image (26) representative of the second tissue is generated from spatial pixels or voxels having positive signal intensities.