We use cookies and similar technologies on this website to analyze visits and to show you relevant messages on social media. By clicking 'Accept all' you give permission for their placement and for the processing of personal data obtained in this way, as stated in our privacy & cookie statement.
Our privacy & cookie statement:
Below you can choose which types of cookies you allow on the Escher in The Palace website.
On 28 July 1750 German composer Johann Sebastian Bach died in Leipzig. Maurits Cornelis Escher was a big fan.
'I believe that no music moves me as much...',
he wrote about Bach’s compositions to his friend Roosje in June 1920*.
'...many a print was conceived in my mind whilst listening to the lucid, logical language he speaks, whilst imbibing the pure wine he decants.'
It will not surprise connoisseurs of Bach to learn that Escher was crazy about this music. In an abstract way, the artist’s graphic work and Bach’s compositions show correspondences. Both have a systematic approach, rhythm and repetition and symmetry. And that is without even getting into any discussion of their aesthetic qualities. Read more about the connection between Escher and Bach in this story by former curator Dunja Hak.
Cover of a flipbook animation of Bach’s first Prelude (in C major) which Escher created himself. He called it ‘Graphic Representation of the Music in Two Dimensions'
Source
[*] Wim Hazeu, M.C. Escher, Een biografie, Meulenhoff, 1998, page 53
'He's an adorable, sweet and beautiful child. Definitely not a freak,'Escher wrote to his parents.
