Description
The print depicts a hollowed-out compound of three octahedra, a polyhedral compound composed of three regular octahedra, floating in space. Numerous other polyhedra and polyhedral compounds float in the background; the four largest are, on the upper left, the compound of cube and octahedron; on the upper right, the stella octangula; on the lower left, a compound of two cubes; and on the lower right, a solid version of the same octahedron 3-compound. The smaller polyhedra visible within the print also include all of the five Platonic solids and the rhombic dodecahedron.
Two chameleons are contained within the cage-like shape of the central compound; Escher writes that they were chosen as its inhabitants "because they are able to cling by their legs and tails to the beams of their cage as it swirls through space". The chameleon on the left sticks out his tongue, perhaps in commentary; Coxeter observes that the tongue has an unusual spiral-shaped tip.
Although most published copies of Stars are monochromatic, with white stars and chameleons on a black background, the copy in the National Gallery of Canada is tinted in different shades of turquoise, yellow, green, and pale pink.
Read more about this topic: Stars (M. C. Escher)
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