In 1963 Maurits Cornelis Escher (Holland, 1898 – 1972) made a statement on the concept of space as a mystery, destined to remain fundamental to understanding his complex art: «We do not see it, we do not feel it, we do not touch it. We are in the middle of it, we are part of it, but we know nothing about it (…) The space remains inscrutable.”
It can be said, reducing the concept to a minimum that, compared to all the artists who have painted space with conviction or rather its visible part, because it is occupied by objects and people, Escher persisted in visually narrating what cannot be seen: tessellations (coverings of flat surfaces or of the space obtained with infinitely repeated geometric figures, without overlapping and without leaving empty spaces) and metamorphoses (progressive transformation of one figure into another) go beyond the boundaries of the single creation and force our imagination to overcome the “measurements” dictated by our senses. In this, the Dutch artist’s graphics are linked and integrated (even beyond his own will) with the most creative mathematics.
In 1954 the International Congress of Mathematicians (Icm) celebrated the artist as “the link between art and mathematics”. According to the scientific community gathered on that occasion (also logicians and physicists present), Escher was able to visualize abstract structures and complex concepts “through rigorous and surprising images”. It can therefore be said that the absolutely limitless imagination (this “non-limit” was what he was looking for) was capable of becoming the unimaginable image of the most advanced studies. The exhibition “MC Escher. Between art and science”, ongoing at the Mudec in Milan until February 8, without neglecting the artist’s early period – who among other things stayed in Italy for 14 years – highlights this link with mathematics, the result of passionate and meticulous work and based – as is underlined – on an intuitive and perceptive approach.
This is why, despite the strong connection with science, the Dutchman’s work always remains pure art. The exhibition itinerary also highlights the comparison between Escher and Islamic art, especially with the decorations of the Alhambra in Granada, which are a source of inspiration for many creations. But, and this is an important detail, there are not only engravings, woodcuts and lithographs, there are also watercolors on display which make the exhibition even more precious. In particular there are eight (which are part of a series of 137 prototypes created between the mid-1920s and the beginning of the 1970s), rigorous studies to achieve the total filling of space through zoomorphic, phytomorphic and anthropomorphic forms.
Despite this rigor, “seeing” the artist’s hand in what are unique works and at the same time noticing that there is also a fantastic application ensures a special emotion, different from the many aroused in the visitor by very famous graphic works such as «Metamorphosis I» and «Metamorphosis III», which create, in an uninterrupted visual flow, the “impossible” illustration of becoming.
In the first part of the exhibition there are youthful works, when, after a failed attempt to study architecture, Escher became a student of Mesquita, preferring naturalistic subjects: there is, for example, a lineography inspired by Hokusai’s «The Great Wave off Kanagawa». Ample space is dedicated to the Italian period, from 1922 to 1935, in which Escher travels and portrays landscapes, especially in Calabria (a fascinating view of Scylla), but also in Sicily (with an image of Cesarò), Campania and other regions.
They are important works, both because there is already a geometric structuring of space and because, with the insertion of invented landscape parts, Escher veers towards the surreal and the creation of impossible worlds (think of the famous lithograph «Cycle» or also «Waterfall» and «Belvedere»). The exhibition itinerary therefore turns decisively on the relationship with mathematics and geometry in particular, the central theme of the exhibition. It is truly singular how “living” forms such as birds and fish coexist with (perhaps) inanimate others, in a constant search for balance between mathematics and aesthetics “until reaching – as the artist said – the limit of infinite smallness”. It is the decisive encounter with “non-Euclidean geometries”, based on the negation of one or more of Euclid’s postulates. Towards a road where – as Escher illustrates – everything becomes possible.
Produced by 24 Ore Cultura – Gruppo 24 Ore and promoted by the Municipality of Milan-Cultura with the patronage of the Embassy and Consulate General of the Netherlands in Italy, the exhibition is created in collaboration with the Kunstmuseum Den Haag and is made possible thanks to the MC Escher Foundation. The scientific committee, coordinated by Federico Giudiceandrea, based on a concept by Judith Kadee, curator of the Kunstmusem Den Haag, is made up of the curators Claudio Bartocci, professor of geometry and history of mathematics at the University of Genoa (for the in-depth study of Escher’s links with mathematical and scientific aspects), Paolo Branca, professor of Arabic Language and Culture at the Cattolica of Milan (to investigate the relationship with Islamic art) and Claudio Salsi, professor of History of Drawing, Engraving and Graphics also at the Cattolica (for further information on the artist’s graphic production).