Santa Severina, Calabria 1930

M.C. Escher made this drawing of Santa Severina, Calabria, in 1930, using graphite on paper. It’s all about the lines, isn’t it? The way they build up to create a sense of depth and form, the way the light seems to skip and play across the surface. Look closely, and you can see the pressure he applied to the pencil changes, some areas are dark and dense, others almost disappear into the paper. It’s like he’s feeling his way around the subject, trying to capture not just what it looks like, but what it feels like. I love how the texture of the paper becomes part of the drawing. It gives everything a kind of hazy, dreamlike quality. Escher almost reminds me of a slightly earlier artist, like Samuel Palmer, with his interest in the way line can carve out dreamlike shapes. Art is always a conversation, right? And this piece leaves plenty of room for us to join in.