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:

The Third Day of the Creation
7 April 2018

The Third Day of the Creation

In Escher at The Palace you can always view Escher’s most well-known works: Day and Night, Ascending and Descending, Reptiles, Waterfall, Print Gallery, Relativity, Encounter, Other World, Convex and Concave, etc. Yet we do, of course, also devote attention to the many other prints from his oeuvre, which spans over 50 years. But before they are given the attention they deserve and their 15 minutes of fame, they await their turn in the archive. Patiently, yet determinedly.

M.C. Escher, The Third Day of the Creation, woodcut, January 1926

M.C. Escher, The Third Day of the Creation, woodcut, January 1926

In March we had an overhaul, which entailed putting a number of prints back into a state of ‘dormancy’, and a new series of treasures being put in the spotlight. One of these is the woodcut The Third Day of the Creation. In the winter of 1925/1926 Escher worked on a series of six woodcuts about the Creation, I sei giorni della creazione. The series garnered a great deal of approval, both in the Netherlands and in Italy, where he exhibited them in May 1926. Besides day three, days one, five and six are currently being exhibited. Along with his initials and the date, Escher also cut a Genesis reference into each print of the series. For The Third Day of the Creation this is Genesis 1:9-13. It says on day three that God created the earth, the sea, the plants and the trees. In a wonderful mix of black and white, shape and residual shape and yin and yang, Escher creates his own version of this day.

Erik Kersten

Erik Kersten

Editor

Share:

More Escher today

St Matthew Passion programme

St Matthew Passion programme

Good Friday, St Matthew Passion Day. For Escher, Easter had always been tied closely to this oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach. He was not alone: the St Matthew Passion is without a doubt the most popular piece of classical music in the Netherlands. Each year most of this country is fixated on Bach in the days leading up to Easter. But for Escher this love prevailed all year round. Everything in his life was connected to this composer who resembled him in so many ways. The systematic approach, the rhythm, the repetition, the symmetry. The similarities are considerable.
Still Life and Street

Still Life and Street

Maurits and Jetta did not just have a great time during their trip across and around the Mediterranean Sea in the spring of 1936, their journey also proved to be a great source of inspiration for the artist. To pay for it Escher had offered to produce a print of every port town they visited and give several copies of these to the Italian shipping company Adria. To be used as they saw fit. Between August 1936 and March 1937 this led to a whole series of new prints, including some that we discussed previously: Leaning Tower of Pisa, Catania and Porthole. Still Life and Street is based on this trip too. It started with a drawing of a street in the coastal town of Savona, which he did on 10 June. Whereas other works from this period are quite realistic, this woodcut (together with Still Life with Mirror) started Escher’s journey towards optical illusion. He was used to integrating ‘screens’ in his landscapes and cityscapes, by building the composition out of elements that are stacked behind each other within the visual field. But in Still Life and Street he uses the technique to generate a shock effect in the viewer.
Birds welcoming Spring

Birds welcoming Spring

The weather in the Netherlands is not really cooperating, but it is true: today is the start of spring! A common feature in Escher’s work is birds. He created hundreds of them. In his woodcuts, wood engravings and occasionally in a lithograph. Sometimes by themselves, but usually in a group. But most often he used them in his tessellations, which are heavily populated by birds.