Flor de Pascua - Never think before you act 1921

This intriguing woodcut, made by M.C. Escher, shows a staircase leading upwards towards two silhouetted figures, bathed in light. The very structure evokes the ancient symbol of the labyrinth, a space of complexity and entrapment. Consider how staircases appear across cultures, from Piranesi's etchings to Egyptian hieroglyphs; always representing journeys, trials, and ascensions to a higher state. But here, Escher bends the familiar. Notice the repetition, the geometric precision that is strangely unsettling; reminiscent of the endless corridors that populate our nightmares. The title itself, "Never Think Before You Act," is a provocation. A challenge to our rational minds. Do these figures blindly climb, driven by instinct, or is there something more complex at play? The image lingers in the mind, a potent echo of the human drive to strive, even when the path ahead is unclear.