Inside the Alhambra project

Marker and pencil on cardboard – 100×140

From a project, never realized, proposed to Escher by a mathematician friend. It was a suggestion he had received regarding the mathematical concept of Reimann space: a space delimited by a circle in which, on either side, there were two worlds that somehow interpenetrated each other while remaining on different planes.

I began to think about what could fit into these spaces, and I remembered a photograph taken in the 1980s at the Alhambra in Granada, in which a circular pool filled with water reflected the external architecture. This is why it is placed at the center of the design, and I started from there to add the other elements.

I had this large panel at my disposal, and I think it was the right choice for representing various levels of reality connected to each other.

It is something reminiscent of Escher, yet different. The path that the eye follows makes it all surprising and impossible to take in at a glance.

representation: the three graces reaching out to a fruit transformed from a geometric pattern, all appearing on a curtain connecting the various levels. No one had considered this design; chance does not exist, and I found the right image to create the entire context of the work.

Alhambra: presentation of the work.

The conception and design phases of Alhambra

The image shows sketches for the design of the plot involving lilies and apples, which are transformed into “real” elements, where an apple will be the one toward which the hands of the three Graces reach.

Each element required its own conception, study, and design, including the spiral staircase.

At the beginning of the design of the checkered floor and tests to integrate it into the overall design.

In this detail, the porches and the pool begin to deform as if under a distorting lens or as if they were melting.

 
The concept has given rise to subsequent digital editions, which explore new compositional possibilities, as can be seen from the image on the home page and below.

Are you interested in a poster or photographic reproduction of the Alhambra?