I’m a huge art fan but as my boys get older, drawing them into galleries gets more and more challenging. It’s not impossible (the lure of ‘golden tickets’ for Vermeer or a whistle-stop clip past Girl With a Pearl Earring is just about doable) but getting them to stop and look, to consider and question when standing in front of a piece of art doesn’t necessarily always tick the teenage boy box.
But then I remembered that that we’d never been to see the Escher In The Palace’ gallery in Den Haag and given my two are both left-brained types it seemed like it might be worth a shot. And how right I was.
The permanent exhibition of 120 prints is housed in the former winter palace of Queen Emma, the Queen Mother. The historic building is wonderful, somehow one can appreciate the rooms to their full glory without the furniture that would previously have been in situ, however its the Escher prints that are of course the stars.
The ground and first floor display Escher’s journey from early experiments with print to the magnificent optical illusions, architectural dreamscapes, spherical explorations and extraordinary tessellations that became his trademark.
My cynical pair were quickly drawn in. Leaning in (literally) to discover the magical work he created.
They were genuinely fascinated – tracking how birds become fish and water flows upwards. Exploring the strange Italian cities of Escher’s imagination and the frogs that become doves in his wild tessellations.
Although these floors would, on their own, have been more than enough, the second floor offered a hands-on experience in which the boys could explore Escher’s illusions more physically.
Whilst the best known works are of course the star attractions, some of his other pieces are just as rewarding. Stopping to stare at angels becoming devils alongside his seven metre long Metamorphosis III which circles infinitely as the scenes develop and change.
All of us hugely enjoyed our visit and if you’re in Den Haag and the 17th Century Rembrandts and Vermeers at the Mauritshuis don’t appeal to your kids then this might just be the perfect place to engage, baffle and amaze them.
