Reality

M.C. Escher, born on June 17, 1898 and died on March 27, 1972, was a talented artist and even as a child, people around him knew that he would make art his life (Locher, 5). Born in Friesland, the northern area of the Netherlands, Escher attended secondary school in Arnhem and his art teacher insisted Esher to make pieces and prints (Locher, 5). After secondary school, Escher took his father’s wishes and went to Haarlem to study architecture (Locher, 5). However, he found that it was not his interest. He then studied graphic mediums under Jessurun De Mesquita in 1919-1922 that later became his style of art (Locher, 5). In his art piece, Relativity, Escher uses the graphic medium to design detailed drawings that has a meaning behind each and every object in it. Escher’s art expresses his reality that has every space filled up and that there is always something beyond what the eye can be see (Escher, 15). He believed that giving the perception of far and near and inside and out will give the observer the sense that something is beyond that which their eyes cannot perceive.

This artwork, Relativity, is a piece that contains the different styles of drawing that Escher developed over the years. Even though Escher found architecture boring, his drawing is a format of a complex structure that defies the very law of gravity. In the real world, people know that stairs can only go up or down; however, this unique way of having stair passages move in different directions has the viewer confused and interested in knowing which way is up. Escher also has little objects to make this scene believable such as doors and pottery. These random doors and plants may seem miscellaneous but are in fact useful to show the multiple ways a person can walk through and at what angle the person is. In addition, Escher has people in the background, relaxing and talking, and in the foreground walking stairs in opposite directions. This allows the viewer to get the true feeling of wonder about what is the real floor or if all of them are real. While keeping this drawing abstract and elaborate, Escher keeps it simple with colorless art and no facial expressions. With this, Escher wants people to focus on the details of the stairs and with color; people would not get the true meaning of the drawing and might overlook the creativity behind Escher’s view of reality. Also with no distinction or facial expression on the characters, the viewer cannot compare the characters and use their own interpretation of what the character is thinking or if they even notice the mind twisting stairs. The true meaning of Escher’s view of reality is that these stairs started out as an idea or dream in the mind of Escher and could be part of this world. Granted, people probably won’t walk the same way, but if someone were to put the same time and effort that Escher put into this paint, this structure of stairs could become reality.