A plausible impssibility is always preferable to an unconvincing possibility
-Aristotle
IMPOSSIBLE FIGURES: The rationality of solid geometric figures goes
awry with impossible figures, those which can be drawn but cannot exost
in three-dimensional space. Many of the most puzzling, and at the same time
dazzlingly beautiful, aspects of Escher's work arise from the fact that
he breaks the boundaries of dimensionality. He paints, on a two-dimensional
surface, pictures of four-dimensional objects as they would appear in three
dimensional space. One overt example of this is Neckar's Cube (#430). Escher
preferred to veil impossible structures beneath typical, mundane format
which he felt added to the mystery of such figures. Waterfall (#439), for
example, is a superficially ordinary scene whose impossibility is based
upon the Penrose Triangle. Escher's impossible scenes create an inconsistancy
of the whole, while each individual aspect is perfectly reasonable.
#439 Waterfall 1961
Lithograph 15 x 11 3/4"
Also included are two Escher studies on Möbius Strips:
#437 Möbius Strip I 1961 $441 Möbius Strip
II (Red Ants) 1963
