MAXXI opens major Andrea Pazienza exhibition celebrating the enduring force of an Italian icon

MAXXI has opened a sweeping new exhibition dedicated to Andrea Pazienza, offering visitors one of the most comprehensive museum tributes ever staged to the legendary artist and graphic innovator. Titled Andrea Pazienza. Not Always Do We Die, the show marks the 70th anniversary of Pazienza’s birth and is now on view in Rome. The exhibition serves as the second chapter of a larger project that began at MAXXI L’Aquila, where an earlier presentation explored Pazienza’s formative years and first creative breakthroughs. In Rome, the story expands into a full portrait of an artist whose influence continues to resonate across comics, illustration, contemporary art, and visual culture. Few figures in modern Italian culture have left a mark quite like Pazienza. Celebrated for his restless imagination, sharp wit, and extraordinary draftsmanship, he transformed comics into a more experimental and expressive language. His work captured