In March 1958 Escher creates an eight-sided woodcut called Path of Life I. Stingrays swim in ever decreasing circles as the heart of the composition approaches. The work fits in a series in which the artist explores through shrinking or growing figures the concepts of eternity and infinity.
M.C. Escher, Path of Life I, woodcut in red and black, printed from two blocks, March 1958
The series is a reflection of Escher’s visits to the Alhambra in Granada and the Mezquita in Córdoba. Their complex mosaics and infinitely repeating tile patterns would inspire him for the rest of his life.
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Santa Severina, 1931
In the 1920s and 1930s Escher made several long trips to Italy in search of inspiration for his work. Together with artists he befriended, he visited untouched parts of the country in spring and in summer and made drawings there. In the following winter he developed a selection of these into prints. In February 1931 he produced this lithograph of Santa Severina.
Metamorphosis III is revealed in The Hague, 1969
‘I am thinking about a very attractive commission which the Post Office might offer me.’
Escher writes these words to his eldest son George in Canada in June 1967. The question was whether he could expand his four-metre long Metamorphosis II (1939-1940) by another three metres. For the new post office in The Hague this new seven-metre-long Metamorphosis III would be expanded to 48 metres and painted on linen.