Ravello and the Coast of Amalfi 1931

M.C. Escher made this print of Ravello and the Coast of Amalfi, and it's all about process! Look at the way he builds up the image with tiny, precise marks. He is creating volume and depth with line alone. It’s almost obsessive, right? But there’s also something really playful about it. You can feel his hand moving across the page, mapping the landscape. See how the lines on the mountains follow the contours of the land, but then in the sea, they become more uniform, creating a sense of stillness. And the little town in the foreground? It's so carefully rendered, like a miniature world. For me, this harks back to Piranesi, another master of perspective, who used his own architectural fantasies to build impossible spaces. Like Piranesi, Escher invites us to get lost in the details, to wander through his world, and to question the nature of reality itself.