Eternal Elysium

**From April 1 to October 31, 2026, the Hirsau Monastery Museum will present the special exhibition "Eterno Elisio" by Italian artist Rosario de Simone.** **The exhibition is complemented by a [digital catalog](https://www.calw.de/kultur/museen/sonderausstellung-eterno-elisio).** Sensitive and fragile, restless and melancholic—this is how the works of Naples-born artist Rosario de Simone appear, evoking ambivalent feelings even at first glance. They are fragments of memories, fleeting thoughts, even archaic landscapes, hidden within the veils and layers of hazy color. In the process of painting, the motifs and figures emerge from the depths of what is initially an almost abstract composition. After only a short time, the fragmentary and shadowy figures reveal themselves, and the bodies concealed within the layers of paint begin to tell their story. Are they those released from earthly contexts, remnants, even saints, pilgrimage figures, or those who have escaped worship? Rosario de Simone draws on themes from Christian doctrine and mythology, shaped by the influences of the old masters of the Italian Renaissance and the Baroque. At the same time, the viewer encounters secular motifs closely linked to the fate of human life. Thus, the seemingly faceless beings appear vulnerable and fragile; they symbolize human abysses, the struggle with God and one’s own fate, a state between hope and dread. The figures therefore stand not only for themselves but serve as an idealized image of humanity and its humanity. Under the exhibition title “Eterno Elisio” (“Eternal Elysium”), Rosario de Simone explores through his painting the shifting boundaries between abstraction and figuration, between the supernatural and the human—a constant questioning of his existential faith in painting, which directly influences the viewer’s perception. Click here for the **[digital exhibition catalog](https://www.calw.de/kultur/museen/sonderausstellung-eterno-elisio)**.