From 1922 to 1935, the Dutch artist M. C. Escher lived in Italy, moving between Rome and the surrounding countryside. Escher drew landscapes obsessively, then spent hours in his studio converting the drawings to prints. His play with printmaking gave way to spatial experiments. He combined various vantage points in one work, for instance, or pushed contrasts of black and white into a kinetic state. When Escher moved to Switzerland in 1935 (later he moved to Belgium), he shifted from real images to “mental imagery.” Metamorphosis, the process in which a form changes its shape, became a constant in his art. This exhibition spans the entirety of Escher’s career. Among the wondrous works on view: water that flows uphill, birds that become fish, and stairs that run over each other. —Elena Clavarino