

Then, he began making designs with interlocking forms-usually of animals-in which each subject perfectly complemented the other, like puzzle pieces. Escher broke down the boundaries between art and science by combining complicated mathematics with precise draftsmanship and an eye for the unusual. Escher became inspired to incorporate tessellation into his own work after seeing it used in the intricate tile work in Alhambra.Īt first, he incorporated geometric grids in his sketches to develop patterns. In art, tessellation refers to covering a surface with flat, geometric shapes with no overlaps or gaps. Therefore the strip has only one surface.”Ī wall sculpture in Leeuwarden celebrating the artistic tessellations of M. Yet on this strip nine red ants crawl after each other and travel the front side as well as the reverse side. When Escher completed his iteration of it with red ants entitled Möbius Strip II, he said, “An endless ring-shaped band usually has two distinct surfaces, one inside and one outside. One of his favorite mathematical objects was the Möbius strip: a one-sided surface with no boundaries.

Geometry appeared in most of his prints through his use of multiple perspectives (usually within the same drawing), shapes, and mathematical objects. Although Escher did not have a formal education in math, it was the foundation-and oftentimes, the inspiration-of his art. Over the course of his life, Escher produced 448 lithographs, woodcuts, and mezzotints, as well as more than 2,000 drawings and sketches. There, he became fascinated by the repeating patterns adorning the tiles and began incorporating that same litany of forms into his own artwork. In 1935, Escher made another inspiring journey, this time to the 14th-century palace of the Alhambra in Granada, Spain. During this time, he traveled throughout the country, making sketches of the Italian landscape and translating these drawings into striking black-and-white prints. After completing his studies, the young artist moved to Italy and remained there for over 10 years. He created numerous mind-bending woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints that play with geometry, symmetry, perspective, and tessellation.Įscher grew up in the Netherlands and received formal training at the School of Architecture and Decorative Arts in Haarlem, focusing especially on graphic arts. Escher- was a Dutch graphic artist who specialized in mathematically inspired artwork.

Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898–1972)-better known as M.
