Rome celebrates the Dutch painter Escher, focusing on his presence in Italy

One of the world’s most famous graphic artists, Escher, known for his parallax games and mazes, has been called the “impossible painter.”

Visitors can view 300 of his works at the Bonaparte Palace, located in the historic center of the city, in an exhibition that will run until April 2024.

One of the focuses of the exhibition is how Italy shaped Escher’s work.

The painter was born in Leeuwarden in the north of the Netherlands in 1898, and lived in Arnhem in the south. He enrolled at the College of Architecture and Decorative Arts in Harlem, but soon dropped out of architecture and traveled instead.

In November 1923 he went to Rome. He and his wife Gita lived in the Monteverde Vecchio area above the center on the other side of the Tiber. The houses there represent how he developed his interest in endless stairs.

On the top floor of his house in Brorio, Escher painted one of his most famous paintings, a self-portrait with a glass ball in hand. The reflection shows a formally dressed man in his studio.

Eschers lived in Rome for over 10 years, where they had two sons.

As political turmoil increased in the mid-1930s, they moved to Switzerland, then Belgium, and then the Netherlands, where Escher died in 1972.

The Rome exhibition also focuses on how Escher is shaping pop culture and advertising today.