Tetrahedral Planetoid, M.C. Escher, 1954
Maurits Cornelis Escher, portraitMaurits Cornelis EscherDutch, 1898–1972

Tetrahedral Planetoid

1954 · Print

May one see it?

Not receiving at present

National Gallery of Art

Washington, D.C., United States

It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.

Checked
In this state since
Source
The museum

Particulars

Accession number
1963.11.96

What it shows

In the catalog

Sources

Meanwhile, in the life of Maurits Cornelis Escher

The whole life
  1. 1954

    An exhibition for the Mathematical Congress

    In 1954, for the International Congress of Mathematicians in Amsterdam, an exhibition of Escher’s work organised by N. G. de Bruijn opened at the Stedelijk Museum; Roger Penrose and H. S. M. Coxeter were deeply impressed by his intuitive grasp of mathematics. The exhibition took up so much time that in 1954 Escher made only two works.

  2. 27 April 1955

    Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau

    On 27 April 1955 Escher was made a Knight (fifth class) of the Order of Orange-Nassau; in 1967 Queen Juliana raised him to the rank of Officer.

  3. 1956–1960

    The Penroses and “impossible figures”

    “House of Stairs” (1951) attracted the interest of the mathematician Roger Penrose and his father, the biologist Lionel Penrose; in 1956 they published a paper on impossible objects and later sent Escher a copy. He replied, admiring their continuously rising flights of steps, and enclosed a print of “Ascending and Descending” (1960); he went on to use the Penrose triangle repeatedly, notably in “Waterfall” (1961).

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On the same theme · Stairs

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