This website uses cookies

We use cookies and similar technologies on this website to analyze visits and to show you relevant messages on social media. By clicking 'Accept all' you give permission for their placement and for the processing of personal data obtained in this way, as stated in our privacy & cookie statement.

Our privacy & cookie statement:

Metamorphosis II

Metamorphosis II

M.C. Escher Metamorphosis II woodcut in black, green and brown, printed from twenty blocks, on three combined sheets 19,2 x 389,5 cm November 1939 - March 1940

Escher created his woodcut Metamorphosis I, the first one of what eventually became a series of three, in 1937. All three prints feature Atrani, a small town on the Amalfi Coast where he visited on several occasions. Metamorphosis II followed in the winter of 1939-1940. Whereas I still has a beginning and an end, II and III form a cycle.

Out of the word metamorphosis, Escher created a series of changing shapes, in which he made use of regular tessellations. The well-known forms that often recur in his work are all featured in this print: reptiles, fish, insects and birds. Through free and playful association, Escher transforms the city into a chessboard, which in turn changes into the letters of the original word. Metamorphosis III followed in the winter of 1967-1968, an extended version of II.

 

Share: