No Small Wander

The M.C. Escher London exhibition has opened at Somerset House, and today I got the chance to experience it.

M.C. Escher is an artist who, even if you don’t know his name or a lot of his work, you’ve definitely seen his work referenced. There have been homages to his pieces in everything from Inception to Rick and Morty and The Simpsons:

Above, the staircase in Inception on the left; on the right, Escher’s work “Ascending and Descending”

Above: Scenes from the cartoons Rick & Morty and The Simpsons, and the work that inspired them: Escher’s “Relativity”.

His work evolved over time, and as he got different patrons throughout his career, he started developing his own art style. His specialties were “impossible” perspectives (staircases that always ascended, angles that weren’t possible, waterfalls that flow in opposite directions, etc) and math-based woodcut patterns, where shapes fit together like perfect puzzle pieces, or morph into other things:

Truthfully, this wasn’t my first time seeing some of these pieces. When I was 10 or 12, my Dad took me to an M. C. Escher exhibition in Ottawa, and it blew me away. Never before had I seen such perfectly put-together patterns in art. These pictures only look simple—many are done in pencil. And the black-and-white contrasting patterns seemed so simple, I was sure I could recreate them somehow (oh, the ego of a pre-teen!).

I remember loving two pieces most: the Reflecting Sphere self-portrait, and Reptiles, where not only are the patterns present, but the pattern pieces come to life and interact with the artist’s workspace:

I really enjoyed this exhibit, for a number of reasons beyond it bringing back fond memories with my Dad. My mind reeled at the deception in Escher’s works; how I could look at something and think I understood it, but the longer I looked, the more questions I had and the less it made sense. I still feel that way. His work is so deceptively complicated, and as a kid I felt I’d been duped by thinking I understood it. And that made me want to linger more; to make sense of what I was seeing. Even though, further study made me feel like the art was making sense less and less. These pieces inspired wonder when I was a kid, and that feeling stays with me decades later.

I also really loved the interactive elements Somerset House included, so that audiences could feel like part of the art, instead of it just existing on the walls. Two rooms I really loved were the full-wall video screen with mirrors, where a multimedia show added movement to classic paintings. A hall of mirrors encouraged patrons to selfie to our heart’s desire. There was also a photo booth where we got to take our own Reflecting Sphere-style portrait!

If you’ve got a few hours and want to be exposed to some cool art, I really recommend this exhibit! I had a great time getting a close-up look of famous pieces, and experiencing the interactive elements of false perspectives.

The M.C. Escher London exhibit runs from June 5^th–Sept 6^th 2026 at Somerset House. For tickets, click here.