M. C. Escher is a Dutch artist who weaves geometry and math into his lithography art. This text aims to discuss the math and geometry that is predominantly seen in his later works as a renowned artist.

However, it is important to note that, there is a sense of depth, certain architectural components, and a conscious use of space in his early works such as Castrovalva, a lithograph of an Italian landscape, and Hand with Reflecting Sphere, which consists of a plain background and a hand that holds the sphere reflecting himself.

Tesellations:

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A tessellation is a pattern of geometric shapes that fit together perfectly on a plane without gaps or overlaps and can repeat infinitely in all directions.

  M.C Escher incorporated many tesellations in his work even before the recognition era. However his use of color remains unseen until his later works. The images above are fascinating uses of the mathematical technique. Although he illustrates mostly animals, in particularly fish, birds and lizards in his print, the early works contain The Encounter, the forth image as well. The art depicts a human figure and a hunched silhouette . M.C Escher describes it as a reconciliation between the pessimist and the optimist. The use of tesellations depict an interconnectedness between the two opposing ideas as well as the cycle between the two. The first three works however are repsresentatives of infiniteness and continuity overall due to continiousness of the technique and the harmony of nature as a result of the perfect fit.

The Concept of Reality:

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  Through bending the rules of Eucladian Geometry M.C. Escher creates a space within his art to contemplate the reality of the picture and the solids. In The Waterfall , the use of the Penrose triangle creates a sense of impossibility due to the structure of the watermill. In the Mobius Strip II, a non-eucladian piece of geometry paves the path that the red ants walk. The Two Doric columns are are bended to different planes while still coexisting on the same flat page, which is when the depth ceases to exist in a realistic manner. The Dragon’s limbs are intertwined in a way that is anatomically impossible. The intersection of the ribbons in the second image are seamless, which makes the look flat while having gadrooned detailings on it. The Convex and Concave, heavily depends on the gradient differences between the same elements such as columns and staircases to create a conflicting space, which causes a loss of direction as one looks at the lithograph. M. C. Escher has illustrated all of these images through intertwining, bending, tampering with many parts of the shapes and the objects until it became an optical illusion. I fact he is awarded for his characteristic art by a geometrical shape being named after him, Escher’s solid, a stellation of a rhombic dodecahedron; which can be seen at the top of one of the waterfall towers.