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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
America’s 250th

Celebrating American art and artists
Art & Artists
Open Call

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

House of Stairs

1951

M.C. Escher

Associated Names

M.C. Escher

Artist, Dutch, 1898 - 1972

This print shows a complex composition of interlocking staircases and archways forming geometric shapes and lines. The staircases twist and turn in various directions, creating a labyrinth-like structure that makes no logical sense. Abstract creatures resembling long bugs with segmented bodies, round heads, and round black eyes are scattered across the stairs, appearing to crawl up and down them.

This object’s media is not available for download. Contact us about image usage.

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Artwork overview

Medium

lithograph
Credit Line

Cornelius Van S. Roosevelt Collection
Dimensions

image: 46.99 × 23.81 cm (18 1/2 × 9 3/8 in.)
sheet: 59.69 × 35.56 cm (23 1/2 × 14 in.)
Accession Number

1974.28.44
Catalogue Raisonné

Bool 1981, no. 375

Artwork history & notes

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

Q65574297

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