Mathematics and the Art of M.C. Escher

The National Museum of Mathematics (MoMath), the leading math museum in North America, presents groundbreaking exhibition "Mathematics and the Art of M.C. Escher" on view October 1, 2026 – February 8, 2027. About Celebrated globally for his mind-bending images of impossible architecture, tessellations, and visual paradoxes, Escher is a beloved figure in both the art and math worlds. This is the first major M.C. Escher exhibition in Manhattan and differs from previous Escher exhibitions by highlighting the many ways in which his work intersects with mathematics. Mathematics and the Art of M.C. Escher explores the artist’s work in a new way: through the elegant mathematical structures and concepts that underpin his astonishing creations. The exhibition has been developed by MoMath in consultation with renowned M.C. Escher expert Doris Schattschneider; MoMath Outreach Mathematician Chaim Goodman-Strauss; Dr. Jürgen Richter-Gebert, professor at the Technical University of Munich; Presidential Teaching Award winner and Escher family friend David Masunaga; and North Carolina Museum of Art curator David Steel. The exhibition is produced by The Escher Foundation and includes the Traveling Exhibition provided by: PANART Connections . The free public opening of the exhibition will take place on October 1, 2026 from 6:30-9:00 pm. Registration is encouraged . Mathematics and the Art of M.C. Escher features more than 60 wood engravings, lithographs, woodcuts, mezzotints, and drawings and includes woodblocks and a lithographic stone used by the artist, plus three-dimensional objects that he designed. Interpretive materials identify and explain mathematical concepts and structures found in the prints. The selection of works examines Escher not only as an artist but as an intuitive geometer whose works give visual form to mathematical ideas rarely seen outside of textbooks. The exhibition is accompanied by a publication authored by Doris Schattschneider and Salvatore Iaquinta, Secretary of the M.C. Escher Foundation, with a foreword by MoMath Executive Director and CEO Cindy Lawrence. Read more Toggle Sculpture Prints Drawing