The result reflects themes such as infinity, symmetry and reflection and echoes earlier prints, such as Whirlpools, Sphere Spirals, Knots and Path of Life I, II and III as well as prints in which he used platonic bodies, such as Contrast (Order and Chaos) and Gravity. But it is mainly a variation on his Circle Limits, the ultimate form for infinity that he had discovered more than ten years earlier after contact with the Canadian professor H.S.M. Coxeter. He also creates a variant of the ouroboros, the snake that bites its tail and symbolises infinity and the cyclical nature of things. However, the biting is not depicted here and the cycle is created mainly in the viewer's mind.
Escher's body may not have been cooperative, but his hand was steady, and there was nothing wrong with his brainpower or imagination. Given the fanaticism with which he threw himself into the print, he must have known, or at least suspected, that this could well be his last. And that is indeed what it turned out to be. He forges all themes and previous prints into a new form and in Snakes creates something very special and unique. It is a resounding final chord to an exceptional oeuvre.