Metamorphosis Ii Excerpt 7

The Tessellated Dream: How Escher’s Metamorphoses Redefine Space

Maurits Cornelis Escher’s Metamorphosis II series stands as one of the most ambitious explorations of visual transformation in 20th-century art. This excerpt—Excerpt 7—captures the moment where geometric precision collides with organic fluidity. Unlike traditional surrealist works that rely on jarring juxtapositions, Escher’s approach is mathematical yet hallucinatory: a grid of lizards morphs seamlessly into a honeycomb of hexagonal cells, each transition governed by an almost architectural logic. The piece exemplifies his obsession with tessellation, a technique where shapes interlock without gaps, creating infinite patterns that defy conventional perspective.

What distinguishes this segment from Escher’s broader Metamorphosis cycle is its restraint. While earlier excerpts in the series depict dramatic shifts—birds becoming fish, reptiles dissolving into architecture—Excerpt 7 focuses on a single, hypnotic progression. The lizards, rendered in meticulous detail, do not merely repeat; they evolve, their bodies stretching and compressing to fit the hexagonal lattice. As the Museum of Modern Art notes in its analysis of Escher’s later works, this period marked his shift from “decorative symmetry” to “narrative transformation,” where each tile tells a fragment of a larger, unfolding story. The absence of a vanishing point forces the viewer’s eye to loop endlessly across the surface, a effect Escher achieved by hand-carving each woodblock with surgical precision.

Escher’s Woodcut Alchemy: Where Mathematics Meets Illusion

The 1940s and 1950s marked Escher’s golden period, during which he abandoned the Italian landscapes of his youth for the cerebral puzzles that would define his legacy. Metamorphosis II, completed in 1940, was not a single print but a 3.5-meter-long frieze composed of 19 woodblocks, each hand-inked and pressed in sequence. Excerpt 7 occupies a pivotal position in this narrative: it bridges the series’ early figurative elements (the lizards) with the abstract geometries that dominate later sections. Unlike his contemporaries in the Surrealist movement—Dalí’s melting clocks or Magritte’s floating apples—Escher’s illusions are rooted in rules. His transformations adhere to the laws of plane symmetry, a concept he studied extensively after corresponding with mathematician George Pólya in the late 1930s.

Escher’s genius lies in making the impossible feel inevitable. The lizards in Excerpt 7 don’t simply change—they obey, bending to the grid’s demands while retaining their biological plausibility. It’s this tension between rigor and fantasy that elevates the work beyond mere optical trickery.

Critics often categorize Escher as a “graphic artist” rather than a fine artist, a distinction that overlooks the painstaking craft behind his prints. Each woodblock for Metamorphosis II required up to three separate carvings: one for the outline, one for the midtones, and one for the finest details. The hexagonal pattern in Excerpt 7 was particularly challenging, as it demanded perfect alignment across multiple blocks to avoid visible seams. Escher’s tools—gouges, burins, and a magnifying glass—were those of a medieval illuminator, yet his subject matter anticipated digital pixelation by decades.

The Illusionist’s Toolkit: How Excerpt 7 Defies Perception

Composition: The Grid as Narrative Device

The hexagonal grid in Excerpt 7 serves a dual purpose: it is both a structural framework and a visual metaphor for infinity. Escher divides the composition into three horizontal bands. The bottom third anchors the viewer with recognizable lizards, their scales and claws rendered in crisp black. The middle band introduces instability, as the reptiles’ limbs begin to merge with the grid’s edges. By the top third, the transformation is complete—hexagons dominate, yet the ghost of the lizards’ forms lingers in the negative space. This gradual dissolution mirrors the Surrealist technique of “automatic drawing”, though Escher’s process was anything but automatic: each transition was meticulously plotted on graph paper before carving.

Color and Contrast: The Power of Monochrome

Escher’s refusal to use color in Metamorphosis II was a deliberate choice. The stark black-and-white contrast forces the viewer to focus on shape and edge, eliminating the emotional cues that color might provide. In Excerpt 7, the absence of gray tones creates a binary effect: the lizards’ bodies are voids, the hexagons solid mass. This high-contrast approach amplifies the illusion of depth, as the eye struggles to determine which elements are “figure” and which are “ground.” The technique recalls the trenchant style of Renaissance woodcuts, but Escher pushes it further, using the medium’s limitations to enhance the work’s conceptual ambiguity.

Where to Display Escher’s Metamorphic Vision

The geometric precision of Excerpt 7 makes it a striking focal point in modern interiors, but its 30×40 cm dimensions (12×16 inches) require thoughtful placement. In a home office or study, the print’s optical illusions stimulate creativity—position it at eye level on a wall painted in cool tones (soft gray, pale blue) to accentuate the black-and-white contrast. For a minimalist living space, pair it with low-profile furniture and a single directional light to cast subtle shadows that enhance the tessellation’s depth. Avoid busy patterns in surrounding decor; Escher’s work demands visual breathing room. In a hallway or narrow corridor, the print’s horizontal orientation can elongate the space, especially when hung in a series with other Metamorphosis excerpts.

More Works by Mc Escher

Escher’s oeuvre spans impossible architectures, infinite loops, and metamorphic cycles—each print a puzzle for the eye and mind.

Mc Escher

Nocturnal Rome: Basilica Of Constantine

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Scilla, Calabria (February)

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Twon Tree

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Palm

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