The North Carolina Art Museum is currently hosting the works of Maurits Cornelis Escher, a world- famous illusionist and artist.
MC Escher was born in the Netherlands in 1898. During his life, he traveled around Europe, due to both wanderlust and the world wars. His whole life, he drew genius optical illusions as well as more conventional landscape art. Most of the landscape art was drawn during the time he spent away from home in Europe.
Most people have seen many of Escher’s more famous works before, but it’s worth going and seeing all the exhibit has to offer. Altogether, the museum is hosting over 130 works of art at the exhibit. MC Escher’s more famous pieces of art include “Waterfall”, an optical illusion that shows water flowing upward and powering a mill wheel, as well as a famous self portrait in which he brilliantly depicts himself as seen from the inside of a glass sphere.
He also painted experiments in symmetry and art with an emphasis on mathematical design. The paintings at the exhibit are arranged chronologically, beginning with his earliest work. It is layed out this way so that you may move from the entrance to the exit of the halls viewing how his art changed over time. The NC art museum lauds it as “…The most comprehensive Escher exhibition ever presented in the United States.
A ticket to the exhibit will also admit you to view Leonardo Da Vinci’s Codex Leicester, a set of documents drafted by the Italian inventor, engineer, mathematician, and painter. The collection is essentially a 500 year old notebook containing Da Vinci’s thoughts on various topics, such as the nature of water. The entire collection is on loan from Bill Gates. The pages of the notebook are on display in glass cases in a single dark room, and each has a description of what is written on the page below it.
The exhibit opened on October 17, and will close on January 17 of next year. Admission is $18 for adults, $15 for seniors & military, ad $12 for youth older than 6. Kids 6 and under enter for free.
