Escher

Exhibition at the Palazzo Bonaparte, Rome, 31 October 2023 - 5 May 2024

The Dutch artist Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972) visited Italy for the first time in 1922 and then settled in Rome from 1923 to 1935. The Roman period strongly influenced his production of lithographs and etchings, in particular landscapes, views, architecture and views of ancient and baroque Rome, which he loved to explore in its most intimate dimension, that of night, by the dim light of a lantern. Restless, reserved and undoubtedly brilliant, Escher created a unique, imaginative and impossible world in his engravings, where art, mathematics, science, physics and design converge.

This exhibition catalogue brings together over 300 works, including many of the most remarkable pieces that made him famous the world over: Hand with reflecting sphere (1935), Bond of Union (1956), Metamorphosis II (1939), Day and Night (1938) and the Emblemata series... The book also presents the complete series of 12 Roman Nocturnes made in 1934.