Regular Division of The Plane III 1957

M.C. Escher made "Regular Division of The Plane III" using ink and paper, and it's all about how shapes can fit together, kind of like a puzzle, to fill up space. The way Escher alternates between light and dark creates a mesmerizing visual rhythm. The bold black ink defines the shapes of the horses and riders, while the white space becomes just as important, creating the figures in the next row. Look at the way the dark horse's leg becomes the shape of the rider's head in the row above – it’s like he's playing a game with positive and negative space. There's this satisfying sense of order and precision, but also a playful ambiguity, as the figures morph and shift before your eyes. Escher's exploration of tessellations reminds me a bit of Islamic art, where geometric patterns repeat endlessly. But where Islamic art often conveys a sense of spiritual infinity, Escher's work feels more like a meditation on the nature of perception and the limits of representation. It’s an invitation to see the world in a new way, not as a collection of separate objects, but as a continuous, interconnected whole.