Escher

Sky and Water, 1938

After 1936, Eschers realistic style and subject matter changed profoundly, when he drew the first of his famous ‘impossible realities’. Fascinated by the majolica tiling in the Alhambra, he became obsessed by the ideas that form the basis of the regular division of the plane, such as the crystallographic principles of shifting, glide- reflection and rotation. In his studies he reflected on his personal amazement and admiration for the patterns of which the space surrounding is formed. ‘The one who is amazed, should realize it is a miracle’. During the rest of his life, Escher devoted himself to graphic art and the incorporation of transcendental ideas, such as metamorphosis and infinity, within the world of mathematics.