Skull 1917

M.C. Escher created this print of a skull, and it's a study in contrasts, isn't it? He’s working with these stark blacks and pale beiges, laying them down in such a way that the image feels almost carved out of the paper. It's fascinating how an artist can use such simple means to get such a powerful effect. Look at the way the ink sits on the surface – it’s not trying to hide itself. You can almost feel the grain of the woodblock. And that one dark patch in the corner of the skull's eye socket, that's the key, right? It suggests so much more than what's actually there. The whole piece feels like it’s playing with the boundary between representation and abstraction. This print reminds me of other artists who love this interplay between light and dark, like Goya. What Escher’s doing here is part of a much bigger conversation about how we see, how we remember, and how we make sense of the world through images.