Three Worlds
1955
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
lithograph
Dimensions
image: 36.2 × 24.77 cm (14 1/4 × 9 3/4 in.) sheet: 44.77 × 31.75 cm (17 5/8 × 12 1/2 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Cornelius Van S. Roosevelt Collection
Accession Number
1974.28.59
Art Historical Context
M.C. Escher's *Three Worlds* (1955) is a captivating lithograph that exemplifies the Dutch artist's mastery of optical illusion and mathematical precision. Created in the post-World War II era, when Escher was at the height of his career, this print measures 36.2 × 24.77 cm (image) on a sheet of 44.77 × 31.75 cm. Housed in the National Gallery of Art's Cornelius Van S. Roosevelt Collection, it invites viewers into a serene pond scene where three realms converge: the leafy surface, the reflected treetops above, and the shadowy depths below teeming with fish. As a lithograph—a printmaking techn...
About the Artist
M.C. Escher
Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972) was a Dutch graphic artist renowned for his mathematically-inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints featuring impossible constructions, tessellations, and explorations of infinity. Though he considered himself lacking in mathematical ability, Escher's work demonstrates profound intuitive understanding of geometry, symmetry, and spatial paradox. A transform...