Prepare to squint: 150 mind-bending works by M.C. Escher come to Somerset House this summer.
Few people are unaware of the late Dutch artist Maurits Cornelis Escher — or at least his tessellating, metamorphosing, paradoxical — and often downright head-scratching — artworks, including Drawing Hands, and the ‘impossible staircases’ as depicted in Ascending and Descending, and Relativity.
All of the above, and many more feature in the un-puzzlingly-titled M.C. Escher: The Exhibition, landing at Somerset House’s Embankment Galleries from 6 June-6 September 2026.
As well as exhibiting original sketches, lithographs, etchings, mezzotints and woodcuts, the show dabbles in the interactive, with projections bringing elements of Escher’s work to life — altogether fitting seeing as his work has directly influenced filmmakers like Christopher Nolan. Fingers crossed this interactive element also sates the critic of London’s last major Escher show, back in 2015, who claimed there was “no real difference between seeing the works here in the flesh, and seeing them reproduced in a book or online.”
Should be a good summer show to get to — assuming entry doesn’t involve an infinitely looping set of stairs.
M.C. Escher: The Exhibition, Embankment Galleries, Somerset House, 6 June-6 September 2026.
