September 25 2025 -> February 08 2026

Mudec Museo delle Culture
Via Tortona 56
20144 Milan
Italy

Contact
T : +39 02 54 917
c.museoculture@comune.milano.it
https://www.mudec.it

Featuring 90 works by Escher, including engravings, watercolors, woodcuts, and lithographs, along with over 40 Islamic comparison objects, the exhibition explores the artist’s relationship with his sources of inspiration. It traces his evolution from his early days influenced by Art Nouveau, to the discovery of Italian landscapes, up to his full maturity, marked by tessellations, metamorphic cycles, optical illusions, and representations of infinity, which made him famous thanks to a unique visual language that combines art and mathematics.

The exhibition also sheds light on a lesser-known aspect of his career: his deep connection with Islamic art. Key characteristics of Islamic aesthetics, such as symmetry, modular repetition, and abstract spatial vision, played a crucial role in helping Escher move beyond the naturalistic representation of reality.

Finally, the exhibition centres on Escher, who integrated this ‘graphic universe’ into his stylistic identity, even throughout his wide-ranging commercial work. The exhibition showcases how Escher’s remarkable talent was applied to different realms of graphic design.