Inspirational Quotes by M. C. Escher (Dutch Artist)

M. C. Escher (1898–1972,) fully Maurits Cornelius Escher, was a Dutch graphic artist. Mostly a printmaker, he created whimsical visual fantasies in lithographs and woodcuts. He often used geometric distortions, visual illusion, and paradoxical perspective to deceive the eye.

Born in Leeuwarden, near Amsterdam, Escher developed an interest in graphics when studying at the School for Architecture and Decorative Arts in Haarlem. He abandoned architecture and spent some years traveling and sketching throughout Europe, living in Spain, Italy, Switzerland, and Belgium. In his prints and drawings from this time, Escher expressed landscapes and natural forms using multiple, conflicting perspectives.

Escher’s mature style combined meticulous realism with made mathematically-inspired enigmatic optical illusions. Considered a pioneer of psychedelic art by the hippy counterculture of the 1960s, he produced prints, woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints. His famous mezzotint works in black and white include Eye (1946,) Gallery (1946,) Crystal (1947,) and Dewdrop (1948.)

Altogether, Escher composed 450 lithographs, woodcuts, and wood engravings and 2,000 drawings and sketches. His images fascinated mathematicians and cognitive psychologists and were widely reproduced throughout the 20th century.

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