I briefly mentioned in my “The Comedy About Spies” post that we had had a previous engagement before refuelling at Five Guys and going to the theatre. So, here the post about that engagement. I know, you’ve been on the edge of your seat waiting.
I booked the M.C. Escher exhibition without really thinking through the implications of semi-mobile VK having to walk around all day before climbing up to the theatre seats. So when it came to actually leaving the house, I tried to minimise the walking time by getting the bus (Number 26) from Liverpool Street instead of the tube. My very fine logic was that there were no tube stations close to Somerset House whereas the 26 would drop us right outside.
My logic was faulty in two ways though. First was that I’d forgotten how the bit of the Strand that intersects with Aldwych has largely been pedestrianised so buses don’t go straight past Somerset House any more. I didn’t get a picture of the new bit but I did back in November 2024 when I was on my Winter Wanders and stopped to do some colouring in. So this is pretty much what it looks like:
That was Issue#1 – we were kicked out somewhere on Aldwych and had to walk back around to the front of Somerset House.
Issue#2 was that we couldn’t get to the Escher exhibition through the front of Somerset House. It was at the back, and we couldn’t cut through because there was a gig going on. So that was a fair amount of walking, and some steps down from Waterloo Bridge to the river level. There were signs for lift access from the terrace but we didn’t manage to find that. We saw a line dancing class but no lifts. By the time we found the right entrance, I realised how much easier it would have been to get the Circle line from Liverpool Street as we ended up quite close to Temple tube. Ah well, you live and learn.
We had timed tickets but there was a massive queue when we arrived so even though we were on time-ish, we still had to queue for 30 minutes or so, in the heat. It wasn’t the ideal start to our Escher experience.
I will stop complaining in a moment, honestly, cause the actual exhibition was pretty good but it seemed all a bit chaotic. The tickets from Fever just said “Somerset House” without any instructions on how to find the entrance. Which meant the child had to walk a lot more than planned and then stand for a long time and then queue on a glass floor, which made her very anxious….as it does a lot of people, I think. It was also quite crowded once we got in and there was nowhere to refill water or even go to the loo…but it got better as we went through.
The first room told the story of M.C. Escher’s life and showed some of his early works before moving into the more mathematically-inclined pieces in the second room. It was well aimed at the GCSE Art student and the A Level Maths and Physics student who wants to get into technical design. If we do nothing else but watch the Muppets for the rest of the summer, I can still say that we did *something* educational. Also, who knew you could tesselate crabs?
The first big feature of the exhibition was just off the second room and was an immersive video installation. It showed some of Escher’s most famous pieces and had giant silver spheres on the floor to reflect the art and the audience:
That giant hand would feature later on in another interactive installation. There was a bit of a queue to get into this room and we possibly outstayed our welcome by not quite knowing when to leave…but it was good to sit in a peaceful space after all the queuing. There were some foldable chairs available but it was mainly sitting on the floor.
After this, we needed to go upstairs and I kinda assumed there was no lift access so VK had to tackle the very smooth stairs. We did later find a lift upstairs but for anyone with mobility issues, it’s probably worth contacting the venue beforehand to find out the route through.
Upstairs, there were some places to sit down and look at the art, which was also welcome. Some of the most famous pieces were in that room, with the geckos and the birds turning into fish:
This was also where the Mirror Room was, which was possibly the most Instagrammable bit of the whole exhibition. VK was enchanted by the infinite versions of ourselves and kept saying how amazing it was:
Reuben was also quite taken with this room:
There were a few more rooms to look through, exploring Escher’s influence on other artists, fashion and pop culture. It included the Penrose triangle illusion:
A UV room:
And “impossible staircase” clips from TV shows as diverse as the Simpsons and….err Futurama. No point in letting a good idea go to waste, huh?
There was also a quiet room along the way, with nothing in it but two sofas:
So we chilled in there for a bit, to let VK get her breath back a bit.
One of the most interesting pieces towards the end was the unfinished artwork, “The Print Gallery”. The original has a blank circle in the middle, where Escher was unable to reconcile the different angles and make the illusion work:
But the room also contained the completed version, where the circle had been filled in by a mathematician – I think it was Hendrik Lenstra. And I have taken a very crappy photo which doesn’t really capture the work that must have gone into it:
There was also a camera and screen so that you could place yourself into the picture:
This was an attempt where Nathan was obviously looking at the right camera for the painting but not at my camera. You get the idea though.
Then there was a similar spot where you could put yourself into “Hand With Reflecting Sphere”. It worked quite well for VK and Nathan:
Roo, however, ran in problems as he was wearing a green jacket in front of a green screen:
The self-described genius child then tried to rectify the problem by taking his jacket off, even though he was wearing a green t-shirt underneath. Did I mention he’s applying to university next month?
We were nearly through but there were a few more illusions to take part in first. There was a vortex photo shoot:
And the same “height illusion” that we’d done at the Twist Museum:
So we got to do everything that we wanted to, and there was a lot of interactivity and some very cool pictures to look at. It just could have been a little clearer how the accessibility worked and the first part was a bit chaotic. I’d recommend going during the week and maybe early in the morning when it might be a little quieter and easier to get in. And definitely approaching from the Embankment rather than the Strand.
Afterwards, we found a shady spot in Victoria Embankment Gardens and dumped VK and Nathan there while Roo and I went to buy overpriced drinks and snacks from a touristy minimart. The next stop after that was Five Guys and, with that, you are caught up on LWAT life. Unless I decide to blog about our cinema trip last Friday…
“M.C. Escher. The Exhibition” is on until 6th Sept. For tickets and more info click here
