Escher's Sicilian Journeys: Catania Exhibition Explores the Dutch Master's Italian Years

Catania's Palazzo della Cultura hosts a major exhibition dedicated to Maurits Cornelis Escher, organized by Arthemisia and the M.C. Escher Foundation. The show features iconic works alongside previously unseen pieces from Escher's Sicilian sojourns, drawn from the foundation and the collection of Federico Giudiceandrea, Europe's largest private Escher collector. Co-curated by Giudiceandrea and Marco Bussagli, a leading Escher scholar, the exhibition follows a chronological and thematic layout, covering Escher's relationship with Liberty style and his travels in Italy. Escher first visited Sicily in 1928, the year of Mount Etna's great eruption, returning in 1932, 1935, and 1936. His final Italian tour in 1936 was funded by bartering artworks with the Adria shipping company; he stopped in Catania on May 3–4, sketching the port, later turned into engravings. Bussagli also reveals an ongoing effort to install a commemorative plaque at Escher's former Roman home at Via Poerio 122, where he lived from 1923 to 1935. The interior of his studio there is reflected in his famous work 'Hand with Reflecting Sphere,' also on view in Catania. The owners have offered to pay for the plaque, but the city administration has not responded.