Escher in Het Paleis — Attraction in The Hague

Surprised to visit and find this museum is full of fakes.

Unfortunately, about three lithographs in, it became evident that this museum is quietly showing mostly blurry reproductions, not originals of Escher's work. This ruined the experience for me greatly; instead of being able to enjoy the work (and the lovely palace building it is housed in), I just felt duped.

There are a few originals scattered throughout, which you can spot because their printing is crisp, have vivid ink, the signatures are clearly influenced by the texture of the paper. The fakes are blurry, with blurry edges and muddled textures, Escher's obsession with detail and texture and the distinction between small and large often diminished or lost in them. The signatures especially suffer from the blurriness.

The website boasts that there are "over 120 prints in the museum," which gives the impression that you will see over 120 prints by Escher in the museum. I identified maybe 10 that appeared real. It's possible I missed some, but there were dozens and dozens that were clearly fake.

There is one EXTREMELY tiny sign in the lobby, next to the ticket desk, partially obscured by the pricing sign, which says "some" of the works shown are reproductions, made necessary because the works on paper are sensitive to light. I find this not totally convincing, because in this case the standard practice is to indicate that the item being shown is a reproduction on the label next to the work, not calling them "lithographs" or "wood block prints" when they are reproductions of lithographs. It's also odd because the handful of originals I think I did identify are shown with no light protection, and with rather bright lighting in the galleries, when they could be shown with more protection and dimmer light to extend their viewing lifespan. (Rembranthuis, for example, shows his few works on paper in a dim room, with leather liftable covers, and rotates them frequently.) Either way, reproductions should ALWAYS be marked as such on labels. This is standard practice at museums, and I'm really very disappointed that Escher in the palace does not do so.

Seeing the mark of the artist's hand, the interplay between the ink and paper, pressing marks and texture and crisp detail of an image, are a major part of why I wish to see artworks in person in the first place, versus seeing a reproduction. Clearly, based on all the other reviews, the reproductions do not diminish the experience for most people. But it really ruined the experience for me and my partner, and I felt my review should reflect being unexpectedly...

I love Escher, and love historic buildings, but I'm not sure this combination works well together in this case. As an art collection, it's fabulous, and really tells the chronology of Escher's work and inspiration. However, most of the pieces were basically mounted and displayed in rooms adorned with period window coverings, which doesn't augment the experience. It essentially felt like a historic house tour with a random modern art collection for in it - an obvious juxtaposition of old and new. Plus the tour ends abruptly on the second floor in a set of rooms dedicated to the house itself, rather than art (although the tour resumes on the third floor focusing on modern interpretations of Escher's work) The free audio app tour was very helpful, and I think the small gift shop offered some of the best assortment of gifts of any I've been to anywhere. The space is not wheelchair accessible, and has many stairs, uneven floors and narrow halls to navigate. The storage lockers (costs a refundable €1 coin), restrooms and cafe are in the basement, and can be a bit crowded. Overall, still well worth the visit. I hope each of the building and the art receives more specific attention in the future to best display its own...

This is the historic Lange Voorhout Palace, which was beautifully built in the early 18th century and served as a Royal Residence during the 19th and 20th centuries.

The property now permanently exhibits the works of C.S. Escher, the 19th-century Dutch graphic artist who famously creating mathematically-inspired, surreal images.

You can visit the Escher Exhibition at the palace from 11am to 5pm from Tuesdays to Wednesday daily. The palace is closed on Mondays. Entry fee is €10 per adult.

There are three floors of palace rooms, each with period furnishing and text explanations for how each room was used. The various rooms includes artworks of Escher organised based on medium.

We really enjoyed seeing the various artworks, particularly those which we were already familiar. You can think of Escher as calculating and organised Magritte. His works are so very interesting to view and figure out. There is a video about Escher and his work on the second floor. This is worth watching as part of your visit.

We spent an hour and 15 minutes at the palace browsing through the Escher exhibition. It was excellent, something we look forward to doing again the next time we are...