A weeping willow tree blends into the night, a child’s dress hangs out to dry from a modernist window frame—it’s all in the surrealist eye of the late Luigi Ghirri. One of Italy’s pioneering contemporary photographers, Ghirri was an early adopter of color film and became known for his hazy hued depictions during the 1970’s that focused mostly on the landscapes and architecture of the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Now, more than 300 of his vintage shots, as well as a selection of previously unseen prints, are brought together in the show Luigi Ghirri: Thinking Through Images, opening at Maxxi Museo Nazionale della Arti del XX1 Secolo in Rome on April 24. While Ghirri exhibited widely during his lifetime, it wasn’t until after his death in 1992 that the photographer really won acclaim in international circles, including the 2010 exhibition La Carte d’Après Nature, a group show at Matthew Marks Gallery in New York that was inspired by Magritte and curated by Thomas Demand. Ghirri’s work will also be included in this year’s upcoming Venice Biennale.

Luigi Ghirri: Thinking Through Images will run through October 27, 2013.