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Waterfall |
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Artist |
M. C. Escher
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Year |
1961 |
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Type |
Lithograph
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Dimensions |
38 cm × 30 cm (15 in × 12 in) |
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Waterfall (Dutch: Waterval) is a lithograph by the Dutch artist M. C. Escher, first printed in October 1961. It shows a perpetual motion machine where water from the base of a waterfall appears to run downhill along the water path before reaching the top of the waterfall.
While most two-dimensional artists use relative proportions to create an illusion of depth, Escher here and elsewhere uses conflicting proportions to create a visual paradox. The watercourse supplying the waterfall (its aqueduct or leat) has the structure of two Penrose triangles. A Penrose triangle is an impossible object designed by Oscar Reutersvärd in 1934, and found independently by Roger Penrose in 1958.[1]
Description[edit]
The image depicts a watermill with an elevated aqueduct and waterwheel as the main feature. The aqueduct begins at the waterwheel and flows behind it. The walls of the aqueduct step downward, suggesting that it slopes downhill. The aqueduct turns sharply three times, first to the left, then to the right, and finally to the left again. The viewer looks down at the scene diagonally, which means that from the viewer's perspective the aqueduct appears to be slanted upward. The viewer is also looking across the scene diagonally from the lower right, which means that from the viewer's perspective the two left-hand turns are directly in line with each other, while the waterwheel, the forward turn and the end of the aqueduct are all in line. The second left-hand turn is supported by pillars from the first, while the other two corners are supported by a tower of pillars that begins at the waterwheel. The water falls off the edge of the aqueduct and over the waterwheel in an impossible infinite cycle; in his notes on the picture, Escher points out that some water must be periodically added to this perpetual motion machine to compensate for evaporation. The use of the Penrose stairs is paralleled by Escher's Ascending and Descending (1960), where instead of the flow of water, two lines of monks endlessly march uphill or downhill around the four flights of stairs.[2]
The two support towers continue above the aqueduct and are topped by two compound polyhedra, revealing Escher's interest in mathematics as an artist. The one on the left is a compound of three cubes. The one on the right is a stellation of a rhombic dodecahedron (or a compound of three non-regular octahedra) and is known as Escher's solid.
Below the mill is a garden of bizarre, giant plants. This is actually a magnified view of a cluster of moss and lichen that Escher drew in ink as a study in 1942.[3]
The background seems to be a climbing expanse of terraced farmland.
References[edit]
^ Penrose, L. S.; Penrose, R. (1958). "Impossible objects: A special type of visual illusion". British Journal of Psychology. 49 (1): 31–33. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8295.1958.tb00634.x. PMID 13536303.
^ Schattschneider, Doris (2010). "The Mathematical Side of M. C. Escher" (PDF). Notices of the AMS. American Mathematical Society. 57 (6): 706–718.
^ Locher, J. L. (1971). The World of M. C. Escher. Abrams. p. 146.
External links[edit]
- Escher's Solid—from Wolfram MathWorld
Escher's Solid Includes a great deal of metric data
The Polyhedra of M.C. Escher from George W. Hart
M. C. Escher
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Works |
1910s |
- Escher's Father
- Bookplate Bastiaan Kist
- Chrysanthemum
- Head of a child
- Skull
- Railway Bridge, Oosterbeek
- Mascot
- Portrait of a Man (I)
- Self-Portrait (I)
- Baby
- Young Thrush
- Bookplate M. C. Escher
- Self-Portrait (II)
- Jug
- The Rag Pickers
- Fiet van Stolk
- Waves
- Self-Portrait (III)
- White Cat (I)
- The Borger Oak
- Portrait
- Seated Man with cat on his lap
- Tree
- Self-Portrait (IV)
- Parrot
- White Cat (II)
- Sea-shell
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1920s |
- Self Portrait in a Chair
- Rabbits
- Female Nude in a Landscape
- Wild West
- The Fall of Men
- Escher's Father with Magnifying Glass
- Portrait of a Man (II)
- Man Standing
- Seated Old Woman
- Flower
- Seated Female Nude (I)
- Seated Female Nude (II)
- Seated Female Nude (III)
- Roosje Ingen Housz
- Poster
- Plane-filling Motif with Human Figures
- Paradise
- Seated Female Nude (IV)
- Seated Female Nude (V)
- Hand with Fir Cone
- St Francis
- Eight Heads
- Eagle, vignette
- Dolphins
- San Gimignano
- Self-Portrait (V)
- Portrait of Jetta
- Vitorchiano nel Cimino
- The First Day of the Creation
- The Sixth Day of Creation
- The Fall of Man
- Procession in Crypt
- Rome
- Castle in the Air
- Tower of Babel
- Fara San Martino, Abruzzi
- Corte, Corsica
- The Drowned Cathedral
- Infant Arthur Escher
- Self-Portrait (VI)
- Barbarano, Cimino
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1930s |
- Street in Scanno, Abruzzi
- Castrovalva
- The Bridge
- Fiumara, Calabria
- Tropea, Calabria
- Cloister near Rocca Imperiale, Calabria
- Atrani, Coast of Amalfi
- Covered Alley in Atrani
- Ravello and the Coast of Amalfi
- Coast of Amalfi
- Farmhouse, Ravello
- San Cosimo, Ravello
- Turello, Southern Italy
- Porta Maria dell'Ospidale, Ravello
- Lion of the Fountain in the Piazza at Ravello
- San Michele dei Frisone, Rome
- Mumified Priests in Gangi, Sicily
- Temple of Segeste, Sicily
- Cave Dwellings (near Sperlinga) Sicily
- Palm
- Caltavuturo in the Madonie Mountains Sicily
- Cloister of Monreale Sicily
- Lava Flow of 1928 from Etna Sicily
- Pineta of Calvi, Corsica
- Phosphorescent Sea
- Fireworks
- Old Olive Tree, Corsica
- Nonza, Corsica
- Still Life with Mirror
- Nocturnal Rome: Colonade of St Peter's
- Nocturnal Rome: Santa Maria del Popolo
- Nocturnal Rome: Trajan's Column
- Nocturnal Rome: Basilica of Constantine
- Nocturnal Rome: Castel Sant' Angelo
- Nocturnal Rome: Colosseum
- Aeroplane above Snowy Landscape
- Still Life with Spherical Mirror
- Hand with Reflecting Sphere
- Regular Division of the Plane
- Inside St Peter's
- Portrait of G.A. Escher
- Sengela, Malta
- Hell, copy after Hieronymus Bosch
- Snow
- Prickly Flower
- House in the Lava near Nunziata, Sicily
- Still Life and Street
- Metamorphosis I
- Development I
- Day and Night
- Cycle
- Sky and Water I
- Sky and Water II
- Entrance to the Oude Kerk, Delft
- Development II (I)
- Development II (II)
- Oostpoort, Delft
- Nieuwe Kerk, Delft
- Town Hall, Delft
- Voldersgracht, Delft
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1940s |
- Metamorphosis II
- Bookplate Dr. P.H.M. Travaglino
- Horse (No. 8)
- Sea Horse (No. 11)
- Lizard (No. 15)
- Eagle (No. 17)
- Two Birds (No. 18)
- Fish (No. 20)
- Clowns (No. 21)
- Bird / Fish (No. 22)
- Lizard (No. 25)
- Three Birds (No. 28)
- Fish
- Plane-filling Motif with Reptiles
- Bird / Fish (No. 34)
- Bird / Fish (No. 34B)
- Dragonfly (No. 38)
- Crab (No. 40)
- Two Fish (No. 41)
- Shells and Starfish (No. 42)
- Bird (No. 44)
- Angel-Devil (No. 45)
- Verbum
- Two Fish (No. 46)
- Frog (No. 51)
- Fish (No. 55)
- Lizard (No. 56)
- Two Fish (No. 57)
- Two Fish (No. 58)
- Two Fish (No. 59)
- Two Lizards (No. 60)
- Reptiles
- Ant
- Blowball (I)
- Blowball (II)
- Encounter
- Two Creatures (No. 61)
- Devil (No. 62)
- Pessimist-Optimist (No. 63)
- Balcony
- Doric Columns
- Three Spheres I
- Diploma Tijdelijke Academie, Eindhoven
- Winged Lion (No. 66)
- Magic Mirror
- Three Spheres II
- Horseman
- Mumified Frog
- Eye
- New Year's greeting-card
- Gallery
- Horseman (No. 67)
- Another World
- Up and Down
- Drawing Hands
- Dewdrop
- Sun and Moon
- Study for Stars
- Stars
- Fish / Duck / Lizard (No. 69)
- Butterfly (No. 70)
- Fish / Boat (No. 72)
- New Year's greeting card
- Plane-filling Motif with Birds
- Regular Division of the Plane with Birds
- Sea-shells
- Fish and Frogs
- Double Planetoid
- Flying Fish (No. 73)
- Horse / Bird (No. 76)
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1950s |
- Order and Chaos
- Rippled Surface
- Devils (vignette)
- Unicorn (No. 78)
- Flying Fish / Bird (No. 80)
- Predestination
- Plane Filling I
- Curl-up
- House of Stairs
- Bird / Fish (No. 82)
- Thirty-Six Different Motifs (No. 83)
- Bird / Fish (No. 8)
- Two Intersecting Planes
- Puddle
- Dragon
- Gravitation
- Lizard / Fish / Bat (No. 85)
- Two Birds (No. 87)
- Sea Horse (No. 88)
- Concentric Rinds
- Relativity
- Spirals
- Beetle (No. 91)
- Bookplate A.R.A. Wertheim
- Tetrahedral Planetoide
- Fish (No. 93)
- Convex and Concave
- Liberation
- Rind
- Depth
- Three Worlds
- Fish (No. 94)
- Swan (No. 96)
- Swans
- Bond of Union
- Print Gallery
- Division
- Smaller and Smaller
- Lizards (No. 101)
- Cube with Magic Ribbons
- Plane Filling II
- Whirlpools
- Belvedere
- Sphere Surface with Fish
- Sphere Spirals
- Flatworms
- Circle Limit II
- Circle Limit III
- Fishes and Scales
- Lizard (No. 104)
- Pegasus (No. 105)
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1960s |
- Ascending and Descending
- Circle Limit IV
- Fish (No. 107)
- Möbius Strip I
- Waterfall
- Creeping Creature (No. 109)
- Fish, Fish / Bird (No. 109 II)
- Bird / Fish (No. 110)
- Möbius Strip II
- Knots
- Lizard (No. 124)
- Path of Life III
- Fish / Bird (No. 126)
- Bird (No. 128)
- Metamorphosis III
- Snakes
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Related |
- Escher Museum
- Escher in popular culture
George Arnold Escher (father)
Berend George Escher (brother)
- Mathematics and art
- Video games inspired by Escher
Adventures in Perception (1971 documentary)
Gödel, Escher, Bach (1979 book)
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Optical illusions (list)
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Illusions |
- Afterimage
- Ambiguous image
- Ames room
- Barberpole
- Bezold
- Café wall
- Checker shadow
- Chubb
- Cornsweet
- Delboeuf
- Ebbinghaus
- Ehrenstein
- Flash lag
- Fraser spiral
- Gravity hill
- Grid
- Hering
- Impossible trident
- Jastrow
- Lilac chaser
- Mach bands
- McCollough
- Müller-Lyer
- Necker cube
- Orbison
- Penrose
- Peripheral drift
- Poggendorff
- Ponzo
- Rubin vase
- Sander
- Schroeder stairs
- Spinning Dancer
- Ternus
- Vertical–horizontal
- White's
- Wundt
- Zöllner
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Popular culture
|
Op art Trompe-l'œil
Ascending and Descending (drawing)
Waterfall (drawing)
Spectropia (book)
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Related |
- Auditory illusions
- Tactile illusions
- Temporal illusion
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Categories:
- Mathematical artworks
- Works by M. C. Escher
- 1961 paintings
- Impossible objects
- Water in art
Hidden categories:
- Pages using infobox artwork with autolinked artist field
- Articles containing Dutch-language text
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