Online Paintings

Escher constructed a five-sided chamber in which all sides are interchangeable. This is his first print to focus primarily on his idea of relativity, how one object is seen in relation to another. The Islamic figurine of a harpy, a mythical creature with a bird's body and a human head, was a gift from Escher's father-in-law and appears in several of his paintings.

The difference between a wood engraving, shown here, and a woodcut is that the wood used in a wood engraving is cut across the grain and not along it. In this way the wood is less likely to splinter and can be worked like a copper plate with a burin. Wood engraving allows for greater detail and more delicate effects.