M. C. Escher

artist · mathematics · optical illusions · Dutch

Created impossible staircases. Escher drew staircases and buildings that look real but are actually impossible to build in the real world. When you follow the steps with your eyes, you end up back where you started, even though it seems like you climbed up the whole time.

Loved mathematics deeply. Escher filled his artwork with geometric patterns, symmetry, and mathematical ideas. He wasn't a mathematician himself, but he was obsessed with turning math into beautiful pictures that mesmerize people.

Master of printmaking. He created woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints instead of paintings. These are special printing techniques where you carve or prepare a surface and press it onto paper to make copies of your artwork.

Ignored for decades. Even though he's now world-famous, most art experts ignored Escher's work for his whole life. He didn't get a big exhibition showing his career until he was already 70 years old.

Finally celebrated worldwide. In the late 1900s and 2000s, people finally understood how brilliant Escher was. Today his strange, beautiful images appear in museums all around the world.