In a method for magnetic resonance imaging of at least a portion of a body placed in a stationary and substantially homogeneous main magnetic field, the body is subjected to a sequence of RF and magnetic field gradient pulses during an interval TSE, thereby generating a plurality of spin echo signals, which are measured and processed for reconstruction of an image. Thereafter, during an interval TDRV, an additional spin echo is generated by subjecting the body to at least one further refocusing RF pulse and/or magnetic field gradient pulse, and a RF drive pulse (.beta..sub.X) is irradiated at the time of this additional spin echo. In order to provide a fast and reliable method for T.sub.1-weighted imaging, which gives a high T.sub.1 contrast and also a sufficient signal-to-noise ratio, the phase of the RF drive pulse (.beta..sub.X) is selected such that nuclear magnetization at the time of the additional spin echo is transformed into negative longitudinal magnetization. The sequence is repeated beginning with another sequence of RF and magnetic field gradient pulses after a recovery period TREC.