Online Paintings

Escher frequently employed a visual game in which he transformed a flat pattern into a three-dimensional object. The artist used his own right hand as the model for both hands depicted in the print.

Escher described this print as a symbol of order and chaos: order represented by the polyhedron and the translucent sphere; chaos depicted by the surrounding broken and crumpled cast-off objects of daily life. The artist believed the polyhedron (a solid figure with many sides) symbolized beauty, order, and harmony in the universe. Yet, he rendered chaos with equal care, as in the exquisitely drawn sardine can at upper left.