Three Worlds > M.C. Escher

1898 - 1972 Maurits Cornelis Escher, or more commonly M.C. Escher, was born at Leeuwarden in 1898. He studied at the Technical School of Art, Haarlem from 1919 to 1922 where he was inspired by Italian landscapes and towns. It was around this time that he began to experiment with patterns by repeating natural features such as animals, birds and fish. Escher then created further illusion by merging figures and ground, merging two and three-dimensional patterns. From 1944 on, Escher's images exhibited an increasingly surrealistic vision of fantastic visual reality and private symbolism. He used sophisticated mathematical principles to design his arrangements and in 1964 his work was featured at an exhibition at the International Mathematical Congress, Amsterdam. M.C. Escher died in 1972. Over the years his illusions have challenged mathematicians as well as those who appreciate his images for the graphic technique employed and his command of imagery.