Hexagonal Fish Vignette 1955

M.C. Escher made this Hexagonal Fish Vignette sometime during his lifetime using ink on paper. Look at these fish, these simple marks, how they swim together but also are outlined against each other, positive/negative. You can see how one person’s trash is another person’s treasure. Or, in this case, one fish's outline makes another fish! I can almost see him there, puzzling it out, making these perfect fits with his simple means. He was not a fancy guy, so he needed to be a clever guy. What a beautiful puzzle, like the world around us! One thing supports another thing, and they make a whole. Escher’s fish have something in common with the figure/ground experiments of the Gestalt psychologists. They also look forward to Pop artists like Warhol.