Francesco Messina's sculptures at Palermo's Museo Salinas

The Museo Archeologico Salinas in Palermo hosts 'Francesco Messina, greco di Sicilia', an exhibition dedicated to the Sicilian-born sculptor (1900–1995). Curated by Andrea Giuseppe Cerra, Maria Fratelli (director of Studio Museo Francesco Messina), and Caterina Greco (director of the Museo Salinas), the show presents eighteen bronze works from the Studio Museo collection. Messina, a key figure in 20th-century Italian sculpture, remained faithful to classical aesthetics and ideals of beauty. His works are interspersed among the museum's ancient artifacts, creating a dialogue that transcends time and place. The exhibition focuses on recurring themes in Messina's oeuvre: the human body in motion, dancers, and horses. His most famous horse sculpture, 'Cavallo morente', stands in Rome before the RAI headquarters, while his monument to Pius XII is in St. Peter's Basilica. Messina's golden period began in the 1920s, with participations in the Venice Biennale (1922, 1928, 1930, 1932, 1942, 1956) and relationships with Carlo Carrà, Giorgio de Chirico, and Salvatore Quasimodo. He was a contemporary of Giacomo Manzù, Arturo Martini, and Marino Marini.