Genazzano, Abruzzi 1929

M.C. Escher made this print, Genazzano, Abruzzi, and what gets me right away is the feel for the mark-making, the obsessive detail. It's like he's feeling his way through this dense village, one tiny cross-hatched line at a time. Looking closer, it's all about texture, right? See how he builds up the surfaces of the buildings, using these tiny little hatches that follow the form. Some areas, like the rooftops, are darker, more dense with marks. Others, like the sun-facing walls, are lighter, airier. And the way he creates the sky, with those soft, billowing clouds – it's all done with the same language, the same hand. He builds up the image, bit by bit, like one might build a city out of stone. Escher is often compared to artists like Piranesi, who also loved playing with perspective and architectural space. But Escher takes it somewhere else, into this almost dreamlike space. It reminds you that art is always in conversation, building on what came before.