Get to know Maurits Cornelis Escher. Articles by our curator and other authors which provide deeper insight into his life and work. In Escher Today you can follow the artist even more closely.
On 3 February our new exhibition opened: Escher, close up. Escher was a keen photographer and for the first time his photo archive is on show. It gives us a new perspective on the artist and his work. How did this exhibition come about?
In my previous story, I wrote about Escher’s cabinet of curiosities. A picture of this cabinet still exists, dating from 1915. What can this picture tell us about Escher? First and foremost: Escher was not a boy with a shabby room and a couple of dull posters of beautiful girls above his bed. This was a serious young man with serious interests who was given space to extend these and show them off.
During the 17th century it became fashionable among the elite to create ‘cabinets of curiosities’. Escher had such a room too, albeit a small 20th-century one. It doesn’t exist anymore, but fortunately we still have the photos.
The work of all great masters is revered, copied and parodied, but no other artist has had his or her work feature so prolifically in tattoos as Escher. The Dutch grandmaster of graphic art is also the king of body art.
'Doesn’t it make you dizzy?’ ‘That’s the whole point!’
Dutchman Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972) is one of the most famous graphic artists in the world. The way he plays with perspective, space and reality means he remains fascinating even today. The highlights of his collection can be seen in Escher in The Palace.
The life of Escher, year by year. In over 70 informative chapters you learn about his life and work, ending with the opening of Escher in The Palace.
Throughout the years several interesting documentaries and short films have been made about printmaker M.C. Escher. On this page we show a selection of them, along with a brief description.