Animations:

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Open late until 8:00 p.m. on select nights
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Artists Reimagining the Collection
Meet the 50 makers selected from more than 1,600 submissions

Open 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

Visit
Open today 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Admission is always free

6th and Constitution Ave NW
Washington, DC 20565

Sculpture Garden Extended Hours

Open late until 8:00 p.m. on select nights
Through September 5
Exhibitions & Events
Featured event:

Block Party
Join us June 6
Art & Artists
Open Call

Artists Reimagining the Collection
Meet the 50 makers selected from more than 1,600 submissions

Print Gallery

1956

M.C. Escher

Associated Names

M.C. Escher

Artist, Dutch, 1898 - 1972

This print displays a series of curved and twisted lines and shapes forming an illusionary perspective. Two different scenes blend into each other; in one, people look at images in an art gallery with arched windows. The other shows a cityscape on a shore, with white buildings stacked on top of one another. On the left, a man stands in the gallery looking at an image of the cityscape. To the right, the cityscape warps and becomes larger while the scene of the art gallery becomes smaller. The windows and doorways of the buildings appear skewed and elongated, and the two scenes bleed into one another. At the center of the print and the focal point of the twisting lines is a blank circle with what appears to be a signature. The print is in shades of gray.

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Artwork overview

Medium

lithograph
Credit Line

Rosenwald Collection
Dimensions

image: 31.8 x 31.3 cm (12 1/2 x 12 5/16 in.)
sheet: 42 x 39.7 cm (16 9/16 x 15 5/8 in.)
Accession Number

1964.8.750
Catalogue Raisonné

Bool 1981, no. 410
Copyright

All M.C. Escher works © Cordon Art-Baarn-the Netherlands. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Artwork history & notes

Exhibition History

1971

"The Grapic Work of M. C. Escher", Craig Gallery, Princeton University, 1971.

1972

"Prints by M. C. Escher", National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1972.

1997

M.C. Escher: A Centennial Tribute, National Gallery of Art, Washington; San Diego Museum of Art; The Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, 1997-1999.

2000

"M.C. Escher", Knoxville Museum of Art, 2000.

Bibliography

1981

Bool, F.H. et al. M.C. Escher: His Life and Complete Graphic Work. Amsterdam: Meulenhoff, 1981; English-language edition, New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1982.

Wikidata ID

Q65511132

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