*PROLONGED till June 20th!*

From the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague

Exhibition in the Jing’An room of the Dutch Culture Centre

The Gemeentemuseum The Hague owns the largest collection of the Dutch graphic designer Maurits Cornelis Escher’s work (1898-1972). Escher is famous all over the world for his drawings of mathematically impossible constructions, but he also made prints of Italian landscapes and self portraits. This exhibition will focus on Escher’s art works combined with biographical material, and photos.

Escher’s prints are based on two main themes: eternity & infinity. The natural world, perspective and reflection play the major role in the prints based on the idea of eternity. These are subjects that have occupied artists over the centuries. The theme of infinity embraces mathematical principles such as the division of the plane, the multiple facets of stars and planets and the structure of crystals. Eternity and infinity in Escher’s work are usually discussed and presented separately. It seems as if traditional subjects such as nature featured most strongly in his Italian period (1924-1935), while infinity (or mathematics) came to predominate after 1937.

A different perspective on the life and work of M.C. Escher shows that both elements are closely interwoven. In his Italian period the natural world occupied the foreground, but he was still producing fine works such as Three Worlds and Puddle later in his career. He created his first large tessellation in 1922. When he took up this theme again after 1937, nature in the form of birds, fish and reptiles was his greatest source of inspiration. Cycles, circle limits, metamorphoses, perpetual motion and interconnected spaces are the factors linking eternity and infinity.

The combination of traditional artistic subjects and specific mathematical insights is key to Escher’s work and was very unusual at the time. The mathematical themes go beyond the traditional boundaries of art, but give his prints their power to mystify. He shared these preferences with artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Albrecht Dürer and Antoni Gaudí.

www.gemeentemuseum.nl

Cultural programme The Hague during the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai

Five important cultural organisations from The Hague will contribute to the Dutch cultural programme during the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai. From May 31 until June 5 The Hague will organize seminars and conferences in the Dutch Pavilion ‘Happy Street’ at the World EXPO in Shanghai. 

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