Dutch artist M.C. Escher is famed for drawing cunning optical illusions, logic-defying buildings, and endless intricate patterns, and you can see some of them up close at Somerset House in London until 6th Sept 2026.
There’s over 150 original works on display, and some of the woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints were absolutely stunning.
This is simply fabulous!
The exhibition alluded to his optical illusions with a couple of Instagrammable rooms for people who like that kind of thing.
At times it felt like the exhibition couldn’t decide whether to just show off the work or turn itself into some sort of ‘Escher Experience.’
For us, it ended up falling between two stools, and tried to cover too much ground and please too many people.
That said, it’s still a very interesting way to spend an hour or so.
A poster on urban75 commented:
I went to the M.C Escher exhibition a couple weeks ago and was a bit underwhelmed. I had some criticisms of the Exhibition itself such as: an overlong introductory video saying he was a genius without saying why, and the number of instagram friendly slots where you could put yourself into an Escher etching/Escher experience etc.
But ultimately I was left with a feeling that he’s not as interesting an artist as I thought as there’s a lot of repetition of a narrow set of themes, and overall something quite cold or expressionless about his work despite the technical brilliance of it.
The floor was covered on one of his repeating patterns.
More info
M.C. Escher. The Exhibition
Somerset House
Strand, London, WC2R 1LA
Runs until 6th Sept 2026
Free admission
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