The Fries Museum announced on Tuesday that it is adding M.C. Escher’s famous “Day and Night” print to its collection.
UPDATE: 2:52 p.m., Tuesday, 17 April
According to Fries Museum general director Kris Callens, the Escher print was purchased for 22,500 euros from a private art collector. “Leeuwarden is the birthplace of Escher, but we did not have a single piece by Escher in our collection, so we felt that it was important to acquire this particular piece.” Callens says that are roughly 650 known prints, but the one joining the Fries Museum’s collection is one of very few that is still in such excellent condition.
Original story below:
The Leeuwarden-born artist Maurits Cornelis Escher created the wooden print, which depicts flying black and white birds transforming into a mirrored Dutch landscape, in 1938. The piece will be prominently featured during the “Escher’s Journey” exhibit, which will open on 28 April in the Fries Museum.
“Day and Night” is one of Escher’s first landscapes and an early example of his characteristic tessellations. According to the Leeuwarder Courant, the purchase was made possible through support from Stichting Woudsend Anno 1868. A piece from the same series sold for 10,000 euros in 2012 at Christie’s auction house.
