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Relativity

M. C. Escher, 1953

lithograph, 27.7 × 29.2 cm

Relativity is a famous lithograph print by the Dutch artist M. C. Escher which was first printed in December, 1953.

It depicts a paradoxical world in which the normal laws of gravity do not apply. The architectural structure seems to be the centre of an idyllic community, with most of its inhabitants casually going about their ordinary business, like dining. There are windows and doorways leading to park-like outdoor settings. Yet all the figures are dressed in identical attire and have featureless bulb-shaped heads. Identical characters such as these can be found in many other Escher works.

In the world of Relativity, there are actually three sources of gravity, each being orthogonal to the two others. Each inhabitant lives in one of the gravity wells, where normal physical laws apply. There are sixteen characters, spread between each gravity source. The apparent confusion of the lithograph print comes from the fact that the three gravity sources are depicted in the same space.

The structure has three stairways, and each stairway can be used by people who belong to two different gravity sources. This creates interesting phenomena, such as in the top stairway, where two inhabitants use the same stairway in the same direction and on the same side, but each using a different face of each step; thus, one descends the stairway as the other climbs it, even while moving in the same direction nearly side-by-side. In the other stairways, inhabitants are depicted as climbing the stairways upside-down, but based on their own gravity source, they are climbing normally.

Another interesting fact is that each of the three parks belongs to one of the gravity wells. An inhabitant of a gravity source could not step in a garden that does not correspond, and would just fall out.

This is one of Escher’s most popular works and has been used in a variety of ways, as it can be appreciated both artistically and scientifically. Interrogations about perspective and the representation of three-dimensional images in a two-dimensional picture are at the core of Escher's work, and Relativity represents one of his greatest achievements in this domain.

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Relativity has been referenced frequently in popular culture. For more on this, see M. C. Escher in popular culture.

• In the Larry Niven novel Protector Brennan creates a version of Relativity in his private world, Kobold.

• It has been seen in Futurama as an apartment in the episode "I, Roommate" (as an apartment, or, which Bender and Fry were thinking of renting, before Fry commented that he didn't want to pay for a dimension he'll never use). It is noteworthy that the character Bender accidentally falls down a set of stairs, only to continue falling "downward" relative to several different gravity wells — an impossibility in Relativity — for comedic effect. Like many other depictions of this kind, in which a given character manages to use more than one gravity well, this does not reflect the unique physicality of Relativity in which a given individual can only move with respect to a single gravity well, possibly indicating either an unintentional misapprehension, or an intentional, comedically inspired parody, of M. C. Escher's original idea.

• It is also seen in a particular Life in Hell comic.

• A Simpsons couch gag has the family entering the living room through the different perspectives and directions of M.C. Escher's Relativity.

• On the Family Guy episode Brian Goes Back To College, Stewie purchases the painting at the school store, and refers to it as "Crazy Stairs". In a later episode, No Meals On Wheels, Peter refers to a situation as "Weirder than that rap video by M. C. Escher". The scene then moves to a clip of Escher (dressed like M.C. Hammer from his "U Can't Touch This" music video) rapping and dancing in the picture.

• On a Drawn Together episode Clara's Dirty Little Secret, Clara thinks she is pregnant. As a result, Toot suggest she falls down some stairs. After the first fall, Clara thinks of a room perfect for falling down some stairs, leading them to the M. C. Escher room.

• Close to the end of the movie Labyrinth (film), Jareth the Goblin King takes Sarah to a stairwell that closely resembles Relativity. A copy of the picture can be seen hanging on her bedroom wall earlier in the movie.

• In the Walt Disney World version of The Haunted Mansion, there is a room which reflects Relativity. It seems to go on forever, and has glowing, ghostly footprints ascending and descending the haunted stairs.

• In the Sprint commercial "Manning's Mind" Peyton Manning views multiple copies of himself running the stairs of a real-life version of Relativity.

• In the manga series Berserk the antagonists of the story are able to bring themselves into an M.C. Escher like world, dubbed hell through the use of the artifacts called Behelit

• In the manga series "Aqua" one of the chapter covers features an M.C. Escher like world.

• Locher, J.L. (2000). The Magic of M. C. Escher. Harry N. Abrams, Inc. ISBN 0-8109-6720-0.