The Endless Staircase, Surreal Illusions in Gold collection — gold wall art by RAGANA Design
The Endless Staircase — framed on a wall
The Endless Staircase — detail
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SURREAL ILLUSIONS IN GOLD

The Endless Staircase

Op Art in Gold

Seen from above, golden stairs climb in a square and arrive back where they started; tiny figures walk round and round on deep midnight blue — an impossible staircase in gold.

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A puzzle you can hang on the wall. Fascinating in a study, a library corner, an office or anywhere people sit and think.

Digital downloadPrinted & framed →
Buy · €9.99
  • Printable digital download, around 9,000 px on the long edge
  • Samsung Frame TV version included (3840 × 2160)
  • Signed licence certificate (PDF) — see it
  • Sent by e-mail the moment you pay — nothing is shipped

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Optical Illusions in Gold: The Golden Tunnel, The Sinking Sphere & The Endless Staircase framed side by side – set of 3 printable wall art by RAGANA Design
Set of 3 · Optical Illusions in Gold

This work together with The Golden Tunnel and The Sinking Sphere — a golden tunnel that pulls you in, a sphere sinking into a checkerboard and a staircase that loops forever.

Buy all three · €19.99
Separately 3 × €9.99 = €29.97
Commercial licence for one venue: €199.99 for all three →
Prefer it printed & framed?Fine-art print, framed or canvas · from €39→See it on your wall
Details
  • Printable digital download, around 9,000 px on the long edge
  • The commercial licence covers hotels, offices, restaurants and public spaces
  • Print it yourself at any size, on metal, acrylic, glass or fine-art paper
On a Samsung Frame TV

Every download also includes a 3840 × 2160 file made for the Samsung Frame and other art-mode TVs: the whole work, uncropped, on a quiet mat in a colour taken from the picture. Send it to the TV with the SmartThings app and show it in Art Mode. All Frame TV art →

The Endless Staircase — Samsung Frame TV art, 3840 × 2160
How large can I print it?

The file is around 9,000 px on the long edge. That prints crisply to about 75 cm on the long edge at gallery quality, and to 130–170 cm at the distance you look at a picture over furniture. Sizes, paper and framing, in detail →

Which paper or surface?

Gold on dark grounds wants a matte or satin fine-art paper (200–310 gsm), or aluminium for humid rooms; glossy photo paper turns the black into a mirror. The pale works also take satin and baryta papers.

Which licence do I need?

Personal (€9.99) covers your own home and gifts. Any business or space open to the public — a spa, clinic, hotel, office, restaurant — needs the commercial licence (€99.99, one venue, no renewal). The venue guide →

How big, and how high, on my wall?

Width of the furniture beneath divided by 1.618; centre of the picture at 150 cm from the floor. How to hang wall art using the golden ratio →

About this work

Seen from above, a golden staircase climbs in a square and arrives back where it began. Tiny figures walk round and round it on a deep midnight blue ground. Each flight seems to rise, yet the loop never ends. It is an impossible staircase, drawn in gold.

The idea has a clear history. In 1958 the psychiatrist Lionel Penrose and his son, the mathematician Roger Penrose, published a staircase that rises forever in a closed loop. M. C. Escher took it up in his 1960 lithograph Ascending and Descending, where hooded figures climb without end. The subtitle, Op Art in Gold, points to the 1960s movement that played with how the eye reads pattern. This piece is part of the set Optical Illusions in Gold, alongside a tunnel and a sinking sphere.

It is a puzzle you can hang on the wall. It works in a study, a library corner, an office, or anywhere people sit and think. Midnight blue, slate or white walls frame it well. Complete the set with The Golden Tunnel and The Sinking Sphere. The file prints sharply to roughly 76 cm on the long edge at 300 dpi.

More from Surreal Illusions in Gold

See the whole collection →

FURTHER READING
What is op art? Optical illusion art, explainedGuideWhat is surrealism? Surreal art, explainedGuideGold and darkness: why quiet rooms need contrastJournal