Escher Museum - The Hague

One of the most delightful galleries I have visited recently is the Escher Museum in The Hague where I was accompanying students to a Model United Nations Conference. The Museum is located in the charming Het Paleis used as a royal residence until 1990 and preserved in its original state. The building is more than two hundred years old, and was primarily used by Queen Mother Emma, the great-grandmother of the present Queen Beatrix.....

Now in the Het Paleis, almost all of the works of Dutch artist MC Escher are on display. Below is a self-portrait, some of his famous graphic designs where landscapes or fish morph into birds in flight, and if you look closely into the eye, you should be able to see the shadow of a skull....

Escher's work creates a magical world of the impossible that continues to delight young and old alike, as it plays with the fascinating ideas of perspective, infinity, tessellation, reflection, and of course optical illusions.....

His work creates architectural structures and tessellations of nature that still dazzle the eye and trick the brain. On the second floor there is a wonderful interactive exhibition entitled "What is an Optical Illusion" which has lots of fun ideas to try out in practice. Don't forget to look up as you move through the exhibition rooms to see the sparkling surreal chandeliers in the shape of skulls, violins, umbrellas and sharks all created by the contemporary Rotterdam-based artist Hans Van Bentem...

The Escher museum is located in the historic heart of The Hague - Don't miss it if you are in town!!