The Guardian reviews a major MC Escher exhibition at Somerset House in London, part of a world tour. The show presents over 100 works, including the iconic 1958 lithograph *Belvedere*, early nature studies, and cultural artifacts like Pink Floyd's *Ummagumma* album sleeve, revealing Escher's precise geometric vision and his journey from a patient observer of nature to a pop-culture phenomenon. The exhibition features videos, installations, and immersive environments to deepen the viewer's experience of his paradoxical spaces.
The review matters because it reframes Escher not merely as a purveyor of optical illusions but as a serious artist whose work is grounded in mathematics and a long Netherlandish tradition of meticulous observation, from Jan van Eyck to his teacher Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita. It argues that Escher's visual delights were never just fanciful—they reveal the workings of the world itself, making this exhibition a rare chance to see his prints with unprecedented clarity and context, challenging the notion that his art is merely decorative or psychedelic.