MC ESCHER

Elena Sánchez Rivera

Lindenwood University

History of Twentieth Century Modern Art

Professor Oslen

December 6, 2022
 Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972) is a Dutch artist well-known for his woodcut and

lithography works featuring tessellations, impossible characters, and fantastical settings. In his

work, paradoxical environments that challenge conventional techniques of representation are

explored. Escher strives to deceive our perception. He is also one of the most interesting

characters of the 20th century. Known for his "impossible structures" he is, without a doubt, a

clear example of the creative potential of art. His vast work is generated between two horizons

that appeal to a principle of simultaneity; reality and fiction. For Miguel Fernández “his

fascination with the interplay of depths, heights and effects of distance and estrangement set the

tone for a projection of the unlimited” and that the "regular division of the plane and the

simultaneous cohabitation of seemingly incompatible ideas like inside-outside, concave-convex,

and up-down are the main themes of his works”.1

Escher’s background inspiration starts back in Ancient Greece. This period in Art History

is well-recognized by its willingness to perfection, achieved by mathematical formulas applied to

art and sculpture that result in ideal proportions. These ideals originate from the philosophers at

the time such as Plato, who was an idealist rationalist that supported the statement “things as

they really are”. As Mª Dolores del Castillo points out, he supports the thought in which, “in a

deductive way, humans are aware and can distinguish the different things that surround us by the

use of our reason”2. Later in time, philosophers such as Descartes will retake these ideals to

reject as absolutely false anything that could lead to the slightest doubt. He submits to his doubt

everything that exists, and little by little he rejects elements and principles that could lead to

1
Miguel Fernández Félix.” M.C. Escher y sus Contemporáneos ``. (Museo Nacional de Arte de México
,2011),19.
2
M Dolores Del Castillo. “Ambigüedades en la Tercera Dimensión: Las Figuras Imposibles”. Revista de Artes
Plásticas, Estética, Diseño e Imagen no. 9. (Universidad de la Laguna, April, 2011), 74.
doubt. He arrives at the conclusion “cogito ergo sum”, translated from Latin to “I think, therefore

I exist”, in which he proves our existence and the presence of these assimilated thoughts by the

fact that we are doubting and thinking, which also proves the validation of the statement “things

as they really are”, and the perdurance of this statement centuries later not only in philosophy,

but in art. However, with the pass of the time, this idea started to get rejected by the new schools

of thoughts and by new artists, and “at the arrival of the Renaissance, perspective was

constructed in an "intuitive" way”, using techniques such as trompe-l’oeil, frequently used in the

Renaissance which tries to create an "intensified reality" or "substitution of reality" by

manipulating the architectural surroundings, perspective, shading, and other fake visual effects.

In regard to it, the word "illusionism" is sometimes employed. Great technological advancements

during the Baroque era enabled painters to create intricate gadgets that added intriguing visual

violations to their paintings. One of these was anamorphosis, which included the distortion of

pictures using lamps that cast light on things. An example of this can be found in Hans Holbein,

who plays with anamorphosis in his work "The Ambassadors'' (1533)”. Two centuries later, the

great illustrator William Hogart shows us, in a curious engraving entitled "False Perspective"

(1754), an image full of contradictions, which will be followed a few centuries later by the

period of the avant-gardes in the twentieth century, in which painters like Picasso or Braque,

considered the pioneers of cubism, would play with the analysis of perspectives and give it a new

use, mixing different perspectives in a single scene and still preserving the essence of the object,

a concept that Plato talked about in his rationalist theory, in which they proved him wrong, since

he was firmly convinced that all things have an immutable and incandescent form that makes

humans recognize it.

 The avant-gardes like cubism or surrealism were highly influenced and inspired by an

impossible figure created by Thièry. "Composed at the end of the 19th century, it suggests an

announcement of what was to come, since it presents the quintessence of cubism; but this artifice

of calculated construction is supplemented by other methods designed to prevent a coherent

reading which, like cubism, prevents us from knowing which of the suggested forms is above or

below, in front or behind".

In the case of M.C. Escher, it can be definitely stated that he is an anti-perspectivist and

that he followed a similar path to these last avant-gardes in terms of inspiration to his art. The

20th century is an era that dictated an interest for psychological elements in art, that already

started a century before on psychological laboratories, in which impossible figures were created

to elaborate big mathematical and philosophical debates about their presence.

 His developed style can be described as a style interested in representing with three-

dimensionality paradoxical spaces that defy traditional modes of representation; it could be said

that he embraced the relativism of his time. The world is much more than what is presented to

the eye, as the artists, intellectuals and scientists of the time were well aware. The world is

disturbingly relative. MacGillavry stands out that Escher was constantly seeking for new insights

into symmetry, geometric relations between an object in three-dimensional space with its

representation on the flat plane, the effect of visual illusions, infinity… “to create what we feel to

be impossible, inconceivable to exist in our “objective” three-dimensional reality” 3 . Even though

he studied architecture, he was more interested in the technique of wood engraving, which he

mastered. He also made continuous trips to places such as Italy and Spain. From Italy he caught

inspiration from the vast Italian fields that defined the naturalistic part of his art. In Spain he

visited cities such as Toledo, Madrid and Granada, being highly impacted by the last one. The

Alhambra and the constant presence of geometrical patterns in the palace impressed this young

artist. This is where he would begin his characteristic use of patterns that fill the space without

leaving gaps. For Hugh Hilden et al, Escher's work “can be divided into three different themes:

Landscape, tessellated and impossible world (game with perspective)”.4

His art, which at times bordered on the surreal, the abstract, and the conceptual, was built

on problem-solving techniques, visual games, and extremely intricate winks to the spectator. It

was also occasionally straightforward, occasionally conceptual, and at times with or without a

message. He enjoyed symmetry, the infinite and the finite, black and white, the transformation of

3
MacGillavry, Caroline. “The Symmetry of M.C. Escher´s “Impossible” Images”. Comp & Maths with
Appl.no.2(1985):123

4
Hugh Hilden et al. “Impresión de diseños simétricos en la obra de Escher'‘. Teché, Episteme y Didaxis, no 32.
(Universidad de Colombia,2012) ,108.
forms, etc. His paintings feature space as the main subject, whether it is in the form of its

structure, its surface, or its three-dimensional space projection onto a plane. As Shattschneider

points out “For Escher, mathematical concepts, especially infinity and duality, were a constant

source of artistic inspiration”5 , and she claims as well that most of Escher´s prints, tessellations

or symmetry drawings and the ones included in “impossible world”, would not have been

possible to be created without his depth mathematical knowledge, especially from the studies of

Pólya( “ Concave and Convex”, “ Another World”” Day and Night, “Reptile”),Penrose (

“Waterfall” “Ascending and Descending”) and Coxeter ( “Circle-Limits I to IV” ), as well as

her own mathematical researches. That as it may, his illustrations are one of the most interesting

examples of the study of space and the psychology of art in history.

5
Schattschneider, Doris. “The Mathematical Side of M-Escher”. American Mathetical Society.Vol 57. no. 6. (2010):
715.
 For my creative project, I chose to imitate one of his earliest works from 1918, Fiet van

Stolk. This represents a portrait of a woman in an expressionist style that plays with the negative

and positive space, creating a high contrast between the black and white, and the organic shapes

used for the main subject and the geometric shapes used for the background of the scene. This

work of art belongs to the period before his emphasis in psychological art, but it can be definitely

appreciated as the start of his later well-established style in the use of the colors, in the contrast

among the different patterns, and in the process of creating this artwork.
 The process was rather psychological than technical. It was a fairly easy work of art to

imitate compared to other contemporary artists because the imitation of the figure and the

coloring did not require me to have a high command of artistic techniques, but my representation

does not have the same meaning as his because my mental process for creating this piece of art

was not the same as his. He was the first to contemplate the use of different patterns between the

figure and the background so that the viewer's eye would know how to distinguish between the

two, yet he limited himself to using only two colors, which, unlike what one might think,

enhances the difference between the background and the figure instead of concealing it, an effect

that would not happen if he used color in his work. Escher is one of the examples that breaks

with the traditional norms of art, in which he is a great example in which although later in his

career he demonstrates a great handling of it, it is not necessary a great handling of technique to

be a great artist, sometimes other components such as the process, aesthetics, psychology,

originality, or social repercussion make art powerful.

As Bruno Ernst stands out “Escher is not a surrealist who claims to describe dream

worlds, but a builder of impossible worlds who, with the rigor of a geometer, represents what can

never exist”.6

6
Bruno Ernst. El espejo mágico de M.C. Escher. Taschen. Berlín.1990.118.
 Bibliography

Bachmeier, Emily. “E. Tessellations: An artistic and Mathematical Look at the work of Maurits

Cornelis Escher”. Honor Program Theses. 204.University of Northern Iowa. (May,2016).

Del Castillo, M. ª Dolores. “Ambigüedades en la Tercera Dimensión: Las Figuras Imposibles”.

Revista de Artes Plásticas, Estética, Diseño e Imagen no. 9. (April ,2011):73-96.

Universidad de la Laguna. http://riull.ull.es/xmlui/handle/915/10545

Dotto, Edoardo.” The Theme of Representation in Steinberg and Escher´s images”.

Proceedings.1090, no.1. (2017): 2-11. University di Catania, Siracusa, Italy.

Ernst, Bruno. El espejo mágico de M.C. Escher. Taschen. Berlín.1990.

Hilden, Hugh, José Montesinos, Débora Tejada, Margarita Toro. “Impresión de diseños

simétricos en la obra de Escher”. Teché, Episteme y Didaxis, no 32.(2012):105-123 .

Universidad de Colombia. ISBN 0121-3814.

Lopes, Antonio, and J.A. Tenreiro Machado. Complexity Analysis of Escher´s Art”.

Entropy.553, no. 21(2019): 2-16. University of Porto, Portugal.

MacGillavry, Caroline. “The Symmetry of M.C. Escher´s “Impossible” Images”. Comp & Maths

with Appl.no.2(1985):123-138.Pergamon Press. Great Britain.

M.C. Escher y sus contemporáneos. (México,2011). Museo Nacional de Arte. México.

http://www.munal.mx/ebooks/escher/files/assets/downloads/publication.pdf

Walsh, Lorraine. M.C. Escher: A Mini-Retrospective. New York. Stony Brook University, NY.

(October11-November 19 ,2021). ISBN 9780578316987.

Schattschneider, Doris. “The Mathematical Side of M-Escher”. American Mathematical Society.

Vol 57. no. 6. (2010): 706-718.

 Annotations

Del Castillo, M. ª Dolores. “Ambigüedades en la Tercera Dimensión: Las Figuras Imposibles”.

Revista de Artes Plásticas, Estética, Diseño e Imagen no. 9. (April ,2011):73-96.

Universidad de la Laguna. http://riull.ull.es/xmlui/handle/915/10545

This article focuses on our perception and our thinking, and how these influence the

search for meaning in those impossible figures used by the painter Escher.

Del Castillo argues that playing with perspective is a valid technique to build images

intended to create illusion. As for its historical background, we can see how further back in

Ancient Greece there was a rejection of the impossible, and things are represented "as they are".

and they are represented following. Euclidean geometry. Later, in the Renaissance, the technique

of "trompe l'oeil" was born, and in the Baroque, anamorphosis. Finally, in the twentieth century,

cubism was born from the avant-garde, a movement that studied perspective in a very different

way.

The search for the meaning of impossible figures begins with the figure of Thiéry, who

prevents us from finding the direction of the image. With the arrival of surrealism, comes the

appearance of the psychological sense in the study of perspectives, which gives rise to the

appearance of a movement called anti perspectives, which uses geometric perspective to

represent with it deliberate transgressions of space that our brain resists to process, looking for

solutions to this dilemma. Among the most famous representatives of this movement is René
Magritte, who shares many similarities with Escher when it comes to applying resources in his

works.

Later Op-Art arose, which attempts to create illusory realities with purely geometric

works, and gives rise to the creation of impossible figures that inspired the work of Escher. In

this quest, Reichenbach believes that it is impossible to represent a figure with more than three

dimensions, and in an attempt to prove this theory false, the tesseract was born.

During Cubism, an attempt was made to bring Einstein's theories to the canvas. L.S. and

R. Penrose published an article in 1958 in the magazine called “The British Journal of

Psychology” with two figures called "tribar" and "ladder of eternity". Escher will read this article

and will use these figures in his works several times (Waterfall and Ascending and Descending)

because they surprise and enchant by touching the breath of the impossible, since its credibility

depends on mathematical concepts.

Impossible figures also open a philosophical debate. In this, Kulpa considers that

impossible figures as such do not exist, but that for our mind they are nothing more than

incomplete figures, which lack the boundary between figure and background. Reustersvärd takes

the opposite view, that they are mere three-dimensional bodies in their clarity, downplaying their

scale. With the arrival of the twentieth century, these figures become more practical, being more

accessible to the public, as they are used in advertisements, logos, advertising campaigns.

because they begin to be considered as something aesthetically pleasing.

Overall, in this search for the meaning of impossible figures there is one conclusion, and

that is that they cover unexplored paths to introduce us into a territory that compromises our

logic, perception and references. For this reason, artists like Escher rely on mathematical theories

to complete his art and make it accessible so that we too can rethink this dilemma.
MacGillavry, Caroline.”The Symmetry of M.C.Escher´s “Impossible” Images”.Comp & Maths

with Appl.no.2(1985):123-138.Pergamon Press.Great Britain.

Caroline H. MacGillavry discusses and explores in this essay the different types of

symmetry M.C. Escher used and how they contribute to the creation of an illusion.

The “impossible” images of M.C. Escher have mesmerized the public for many years

with his optical illusions that leave the spectator mind-blown. One of the main and most

noticeable characteristics attributed to this effect is the fact that he utilizes symmetry to achieve

it in many of his prints.

One type of symmetry that Escher explored often is the reflective symmetry. Reflective

symmetry is a resource that Escher used to create mirror images of shapes or patterns. He often

uses this type of symmetry to create a picture of impossible patterns that fold themselves

endlessly. For example, in his print “Ascending and Descending”, which MacGillavry used as an

example, Escher uses symmetry to create an endless staircase that seems to challenge gravity. By

repeating the same figure over a reflective pattern, Escher creates an illusion of a dimension that

does not exist on the paper.

Another type of symmetry that Escher frequently uses is rotational symmetry. This is a

type of symmetry that involves rotating a shape or a pattern around an axis or central point.

Rotational symmetry was used to give birth to Escher’s famous tessellations. His tessellations

consisted of repeated images without any gaps in between that fit together precisely. One

example discussed in this essay is his print “Reptiles”, in which he uses rotational symmetry to

form lizards’ tessellations that seem to be crawling one on top of another. He rotates each single
lizard around an axis, in which each lizard loses its individuality and starts slowly to become a

part of a pattern. This pattern is perfectly repeated in all directions.

MacGillavry points out as well that apart from these types of symmetry, another of

Escher’s resources to create structures that would be impossible to recreate in our world was to

employ non-Euclidean geometry. Non-Euclidean geometry is about breaking with the rules of

what we understand as traditional geometry like when he allowed parallel lines to intersect. This

type of geometry allows him to create impossible structures that seem to contort and twist in

impossible ways. As an example, in his print “Waterfall”, also discussed in this essay, he uses

non-Euclidean geometry and the Penrose triangle to create the illusion of an endless waterfall

that seems to flow in the opposite direction.

However, Escher’s techniques were not limited to visual elements. He also used musical

symmetry for his works, especially on his work “Circle Limit IV”. This piece contains a series of

birds, arranged in a symmetrical pattern which tries to imitate the bird positioned before. This

pattern follows the Schläfli Symbol, which is a resource use in music to create a feeling of

rhythm and musicality that Escher used as a mathematical sequence to create this pattern of birds

that become smaller and smaller, which create a visual rhythm.

Overall, Escher’s main resources to achieve his incredible impossible images are the use

of different types of symmetry and non-Euclidean geometry. Through these methods, his images

have a huge impact on the viewer, making them analyze and process his images up to the point

that they easily captivate the viewer. It is undoubtedly that Escher’s prints, as MacGillavry said,

had a unique understanding of perspective, and that his approaches have inspired many other

artists until today, who have analyzed perspective in many different ways.
Schattschneider, Doris. “The Mathematical Side of M-Escher”. American Mathematical Society.

Vol 57. no. 6. (2010):706-718.

Doris Schattschneider explores in her scholar the mathematical depth of Escher´s

drawings and prints: the extend mathematical knowledge, especially geometry, he had and the

mathematical research he made by his own in order to create his impossible figures.

The author notes that his family environment had a lot to do with his passion for infinity

and duality. Escher grew up in Arnhem, Holland. He was the youngest in a family of five boys.

His father was a civil engineer and his four brothers all became scientists.

He became interested very early in plane-filling. As he was studying in Haarlem

School ,1919, three of his prints were plane-filling, two of them were filling rhombuses and one

was a rectangle filled with eight elegant heads, four upsides down, each repeated four times.

Schattschneider points out the strong influence that the tiles of the Alhambra in Granada,

Spain, made in Escher when he first visited it in 1922 for “its great complexity and geometric

artistry”. In 1935, he visited the Alhambra for the second time and he studied the geometric

relationships of the tiles to fill a plane, and he was able to create a dozen new symmetry drawing

of interlocked motifs. It was definitely the turn point, as from this time, he never painted again a

landscape but a “mindscape”. In 1937 he used these symmetries to create Metamorphosis I.

If the Alhambra was his first deep influence, Schattschneider claims that his impossible

drawings were never happened if he didn´t get in touch with the work of three eminent

mathematicians: George Pólya , Haag, Roger Penrose and Harold Coexeter.

He studied hard the seventeen plane symmetry groups and the illustrative tiling for each

one George Pólya made. Development I was his first print based on this.
 Schattschneider also claims that Escher himself became a mathematical searcher. In fact,

some of these mathematical researches anticipated later discoveries by mathematicians. From

1937 to 1941 based on Haag´s regular division of the plane, he started to research about new

division of the plane and play with translations, rotations and glide-reflections to fill the plane.

Based on these studies he started to create his “duality” prints, such as “Sky and Water I “and

“Circle Limit IV”, where he plays with the idea of juxtaposition of opposites.

In Penrose’s case, the influence was mutual. Penrose´s was impressed by Escher´s print

“Relativity”, where several persons were simultaneously climbing and descending, defying the

law of gravity. After that, the mathematician created the famous “Penrose´s tribal or triangle”.

Escher uses it as well to draw “Waterfall” and “Ascending and Descending”.

Schattschneider explains as well in this article the relationship between Escher and

Coexeter. Coxeter saw Escher´s work in 1954 and wrote him to tell him how impressed he was

and asked him if he could use two of Escher´s symmetry drawing to illustrate a paper that

discussed symmetry in the Euclidean plane. Escher agreed and Coxeter sent him a copy of the

paper. This article meant for Escher the discovery of capture the infinity in a finite space. Based

on this, he created Circle Limit. Coxeter was an admired of Escher´s prints, and he analyzed

Escher´s work and said that the artist had anticipated some of his own discoveries.

Schattschneider ends her article by alluding not only to the contributions of

mathematicians to Escher and his work, but also from Escher to mathematicians, as Escher´s

work was used to teach mathematical ideas and illustrate mathematical text and his algorithm to

create patterns has lead mathematicians and computer scientist to use combinatorial techniques.
 Next, I will synthesize the strongest arguments of the three articles that I have selected in

relation to the work of M.C. Escher and I will point out what aspect of this artist, in my opinion,

is not sufficiently studied, reviewed in any of these articles.

On the first hand, both Schattschneider and MacGillavry analyze the “cerebral “side of

Escher´s work. We must bear in mind that Doris Schattschneider is a renowned mathematic

professor at University of Pennsylvania and Caroline MacGillavry is a renowned

crystallographer at the University of Amsterdam, the first scientist of using Escher´s art as a

teaching tool in text. On the other hand, M Dolores del Castillo, PhD in Fine Arts at University

of La Laguna, offers us a study of the artist placed in context with other painters in the Art

History and not only reveals his technique but also his influences and his legacy.

As Escher is well known for breaking the rule in his works of traditional perspective, for

breaking the rules of Euclidean geometry, in order to create his “impossible images” or

“mindscape”, as he called them. Del Castillo show us examples of other artists who have already

started on this path. She points out that Pieter Brueghel in his painting “The Magpie on the

Gallows”, with or without consciousness, it already represents a strange perspective in 1568. For

her the use of anamorphosis in the Baroque is another example of techniques used by painters to

distort reality. An example is the painting of Hans Holbein “The Ambassadors” (1533). Del

Castillo continues to show us other examples throughout the history of art of theses precursors

and also points out another examples as the work of William Hogarth “Satire on false” (1754),

and the work” Carceri”, 16 engravings on prisons by Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-78) that

already represented architectural fantasies, creating an impossible visual world. Escher was a

great enthusiast of Piranesi and had several of Piranesi's prints in his studio. Del Castillo

advances her argument in the same line of rupture of the classical perspective in art, claiming as
part of this current the avant-garde of the twentieth century such as cubism and surrealism.

Within this last movement she highlights René Magritte and indicates his similarity to Escher by

comparing “The Human Condition” painted by Magritte in 1955 and Escher´s” Still life and

Street” painted in 1937.

Both Schattschneider and MacGillavry focus their paper in the Escher´s deep

mathematical knowledge and the methodical investigation he made in order to represent in a flat

plane “the fourth dimension” (conception derived from Einstein´s theory of relativity) and in

order to represent the infinity. Both authors point out that thanks to this knowledge Escher could

represent his impossible figures.

MacGillavry on the one hand bases all her article on the study that Escher did on

symmetry and points out the rotational use symmetry for the creation of his famous to Escher’s

famous tessellations and she gave a lot of examples of how Escher employed the non-Euclidean

geometry, on the other hand Schattschneider points out the influence of specific mathematical

authors such as Pólya, Penrose and Coexeter had in Escher´s prints. She stands that without

studying the Pólya´s seventeen plane symmetry, Penrose´s triangle and Penrose´s stairs or

Coxeter´s work about Non-Euclidean Geometry and without his own researches he carried out

within 1937-1941 , that he recorded in a Notebook, such prints as “Development I” “Sky and

Water I “and “Circle Limit IV” ( based on Pólya´s researches), “Waterfall” and “Ascending and

Descending”( based on Penrose´s work) and “Circle Limit” ( based on Coxeter´s papers) among

others, would never exit.

The common thing that underlies in the three authors is that art and science nourish each

other.
 The Escher’s works compromise our perception, our logic and our references to interpret

reality; his works provoke emotions and disconcert in the viewer. All these sensations are

provoked by other works outside the canons of their time that sought new ways of expression,

deconstructing the composition, perspective and realism, works such as the “Les Demoiselles d

´Avignon” or the “Guernica”. However, Escher is more regarded by mathematicians than by

artists, he is more recognized by science than by Art History. As Escher himself wrote in 1960

“Although I am absolutely innocent of training or knowledge in the exact sciences, I often seem

to have more in common with mathematicians than with my fellow artists”. This is the aspect,

the artistic aspect, that I consider least studied or valued of this great artist.