Still Life with Spherical Mirror 1934

M.C. Escher made this lithograph, 'Still Life with Spherical Mirror', and right away you see a world built from blacks, whites and grays. It's a landscape of value. He is not using the language of color to speak but rather uses light and dark, which is interesting considering light is what enables us to see color in the first place. Look closely, and you’ll see the reflections within the sphere. The texture is almost palpable, isn’t it? The way the light catches on the curves, the subtle gradations of tone—it’s all so meticulously rendered. It almost feels like you could reach out and touch it, feel the cool smoothness of the glass against your fingertips. The reflection suggests a sense of the artist’s studio. The world is literally turned upside down; even the artist, or his likeness, is trapped in the orb. Much like the surrealist painter Magritte, Escher uses a hyper-realistic rendering to highlight the artificiality of the image and to challenge our perceptions of reality. It's a conversation that continues to evolve.