Palm Beach State College

Escher on Infinity

Madison Calloway
Professor Boulware
MAC 2311
November 30, 2014

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The final grades are being releasedwill Mauritis finally pass? His heart drops as he
scans the paper with dismay; he will have to retake the entire semesteragain. Sulking, Mauri
heads to see his art teacher and work on his woodcraft. It is in these hours, in this room, that
Mauritis realizes something: he is not made for school, but for graphics. He resolves to pursue
the visual arts by attending the School of Architecture and Decorative Arts in Haarlem.
It is difficult to believe that a high school dropout, became the great mathematic artist
Maurits Cornelis Escher, more commonly known as M. C. Escher, that is so renowned today.
Escher never finishes school, yet his passion for mathematics drives him to attend countless
lectures and read numerous books on such subjects. As a result, Eschers work reflects assorted
concepts derived from geometry and math theory, such as the idea of Infinity, the logic and shape
of space, impossible shapes, and non-Euclidian geometry. The work of M.C. Escher holds the
answers to many mathematic mysteries, especially those about the idea of infinity. Those
answers continue to be discovered and questioned in the modern world.
Escher did not begin exploring these specific areas of mathematics. Instead, he sketched
and etched what he saw around himpeople, cities, and structures. His work made it into an
exhibition in Holland, a few months before he married his wife, Jetta, in 1924. Receiving
generally positive reviews, the critics comment how his work is refreshing and well executed.
Once married, he moves to Rome and has multiple exhibitions showing off his work. It is not
until he completes his woodcut, Days of Creation, that he becomes renowned. It attracts a
multitude of attention; thus, Escher truly begins to become an artist. This woodcut that has
brought him such great attention brings to life the words in the beginning of the Bible about the
creation of the Universe and everything in it.

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Later, the Escher family moves further south; here Escher cannot draw inspiration from
his surroundings as he had while in Rome. F.H. Bool and J.R. Kistauthors of M.C. Escher:
His Life and Complete Graphic Workperfectly describe this transition in his life. They
explain, He was no longer concerned with expressing his observationsor only rarelybut
rather with the construction of the images in his own mind. These images dealt with regular
division of the plane, limitless space, rings and spirals in space, mirror images, inversion,
polyhedrons, relativities, the conflict between the flat and the spatial, and impossible
constructions (52). Due to the lack of noteworthy views, Escher reserved to allow his mind to
create mathematical puzzles and assemblies. This is where Escher starts to become the artist that
the world knows of today.
David Foster Wallaceauthor of Everything and More: A Compact History of
explains the conundrum encountered when trying to understand the concept of infinity. He
writes, It is areas like math and metaphysics that we encounter one of the average human
minds weirdest attributes. The ability to conceive of things that we cannot, strictly speaking,
conceive of. We can conceive in some rough way of what omnipotence is, for instance. At least
we can use the word omnipotence with a fair degree of confidence that we know what were
talking about (22). When figuratively considering or mathematically examining infinity,
Wallace says that it is impossible to comprehend what it is exactly. However, we can see infinity
in art such as Eschers tessellations.
His first experimentation with mathematics is a form that he called regular division of
the plane. Bool and Kist define this perfectly, An ingenious combination of different
observationsa single perspective, so that it appears as one realityan impossible reality, which
can only exist as an image in the mind (55). How an image can be repeated multiple times

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with no space in betweenall molded into each other. This is the beginning to Eschers
tessellations and his contribution to the idea of infinity (see figure 1).

Fig. 1, Circle Limit III

Cornell.edu has an article on Escher and his different math contributions. In the section
on tessellations, it explains how one works and how it relates back to symmetry and geometry. It
writes, A pattern can be made to map to itself by means of translation, rotation, reflection and
glide reflectioneach group admits only some kinds of shifts whereby they map onto
themselves (some admit only translation, others translation and reflection etc.)A particular
characteristic of Escher's tessellation is that he chooses motifs that represent concrete objects or
beings (6). Escher was able to create this perfect symmetry with irregular shapesforms that
were not regularly symmetrical, as circles, squares, and triangles are. He created tessellations
with images of angels and demons, human bodies, faces, animals, etc. He merged to creating
tessellations within a 3-D image, such as his work Reptiles. It features seemingly alive animals
morphing into the paper from hence they came, after rotating around some items such as books
and bowls. This shows how the tessellation can continue forever, constantly regenerating the
imagesillustrating the idea of Infinity.

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Escher continues to, unknowingly, experiment with infinity. He starts to challenge his
work to show the dimensionality of spacethe ability to see a 3-D object in a 2-D space. For
example, his wood cut Circle Limit III exhibits a pattern that is large in the middle and infinitely
smaller on the edges. This gives the illusion that if a person was in the work, he could walk to
any edge for an infinite amount of time and distance, when in actuality, the plane is not spherical.
It gives the impression that the picture is orbicular, not flush. Escher develops the idea for this
from a drawing in a book that he read, by the mathematician, H.S.M. Coxeter. It deals with the
ideas of non-Euclidian geometry and hyperbolic space, derived from the Poincar model. The
model allowed for flat images to appear in the hyperbolic or spatial plane. For this reason,
Eschers work can be studied to unlock mysteries to fully understanding immense mathematic
concepts and the vision for infinity.
Platonicrealms.com has written an account of Escher, as his work relates back to
mathematics. Specifically, it discusses Eschers relation to Euclids methodologies, mentioning
Topology. It explains, Escher was very interested in the visual aspects of Topology, a branch of
mathematics just coming into full flower during his lifetime. Topology concerns itself with those
properties of a space which are unchanged by distortions which may stretch or bend itbut
which do not tear or puncture itand topologists were busy showing the world many strange
objects (5). Mbius Strip II is employed as a paradigm. It portrays a strip with ants crawling in
one direction along the plane. It appears as though neighboring ants are on different sides of the
strip, but closer observation reveals that there is only one side that exists. This image portrays
the ideals of Topology because it is forced to bend upon itself and support the ants upon it, but it
is not pierced or torn. The appearance is infinitely continuous. The view of Topology led Escher

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to experiment with more perspective realities. This is where he transitions to art reflecting
optical illusions.
Escher creates impossible shapes and gravity-defying figures. His work, Waterfall,
portrays a water system that pushes the flow of water from one tower to another. However, the
impossibility of it is that water falls from one tower to another. This is not logically possible as
the water troughs appear to be level and the water cannot flow upwards. Escher himself wrote a
book, Escher on Escher, that describes and attempts to explain his art. He writes, We are not
satisfied with [reality] and persist in playing with stories and images in order to escape it
Whoever wants to portray something that does not exist has to obey certain rules. Those rules
are more or less the same as for the teller of fairy tales: he has to apply the function of contrasts;
he has to cause a shock (136). Escher believes that humankind is not content with what is seen
and that we long for the supernatural. Infinite convolutions and figures that should not and do
not subsist in the natural worldsomething beyond what is known, or rather, infinity and
beyond. He takes this idea to the limit. The work for which Escher is mostly famous for
Relativityportrays a series of staircases with figures walking across them. What is unorthodox
about this picture is that one flight of stairs heading up leads to a landing that is directed down
gravity is flipped upon itself. This lithograph print defies the logic of space; there are points of
infinity at which the eye is drawn down, but at some infinitesimal point, it reverses upon itself.
The viewers image changes with his perceptionwherever the eye looks determines the
geometry of the space, and vice versa.
Nancy Walkup wrote an article on geometric concepts as they relate to art. She employs
the argument, Both disciplines involve drawing, the use of two- and three-dimensional shapes
and forms, an understanding of spatial concepts, measurements, estimation, and patterns and

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provide a basis for order and structure. Concepts of line, shape, form, pattern, symmetry,
respective, scale, and proportion form the building blocks of art and parallel similar foundations
in mathematics (1).
Ian Stewart wrote a book about mathematical concepts, The Great Mathematical
Problems: Visions of Infinity. He believes that math will always be uncertain. He argues, The
most important mathematical questions of the next century will emerge as understanding of what
we currently believe to be the great problems of mathematics. However, they will almost
certainly be questions that we cannot currently conceive of (281). There are viewpoints that
move to challenge this idea. Math is finiteit does not and has not ever changed. Everything
that is to be discovered and created in the future exists now. It is just a matter of who figures it
out first. The resources for understanding mathematical subjectssuch as infinityare at
humanitys disposal now. Perhaps it will only take a glance towards art such as that by Escher to
actually define what infinity actually encompasses.
Consequently, art is needed in societyit makes up for the things that math lacks in.
Why is it that when solving a physics problem, a free-body diagram is drawn? The reason is
because the picture makes it easier to understand what is happening within the math. Nancy
Walkup wrote an article on geometric concepts as they relate to art. She employs the argument,
Both disciplines involve drawing, the use of two- and three-dimensional shapes and forms, an
understanding of spatial concepts, measurements, estimation, and patterns and provide a basis for
order and structure. Concepts of line, shape, form, pattern, symmetry, respective, scale, and
proportion form the building blocks of art and parallel similar foundations in mathematics (1).
Without art, math would be next to impossible to complete. The answers to the questions that
math has can be found in artone just needs to examine it more closely.

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Escher is a legendary artist and a mathematical genius. His art is still extremely relevant
in the modern world, being praised in both arithmetic and artistic societies. Elizabeth Pumfrey
and Toni Beardonauthors of many reports on Escherreport his effect on culture. They write,
Escher had powers of visulisation that gave him a superior intuitive understanding of geometry
and he brought geometry to life in his artEscher gained a great deal of respect from
mathematicians for his work and he lectured on art, mathematics and science (5). This is why
Eschers work should continue to be reviewed and esteemed. His pieces hold the answers to
unlock math mysteries about seemingly complex concepts, especially those about infinity.

References
Circle Limit III. 1959. Mahone Bay. By Mauritus Escher.
Ernst, Bruno. The Magic Mirror of M.C. Escher. New York: Random House, 1976. Print.

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Escher, M. C., J. L. Locher, Flip Bool, and Bruno Ernst. M.C. Escher: His Life and
Complete Graphic Work. New York: Abradale Press/Harry N. Abrams, 1992. Print.
Escher, M. C., and J. W. Vermeulen. Escher on Escher: Exploring the Infinite. New York:
H.N. Abrams, 1989. Print.
"M.C. Escher and Hyperbolic Geometry." Escher Index Page. Cornell.edu. N.P., N.D.
Web. 15 Sept. 2014.
Pumfrey, Elizabeth, and Toni Beardon. "Art and Mathematics - Mutual Enrichment."
Micromath 18.2 (2002): 21. Education Research Complete. Web. 15 Sept. 2014.
Smith, B. Sidney. "The Mathematical Art of M.C. Escher." Platonic Realms Minitexts.
Platonic Realms, 13 Mar 2014. Web. 13 Mar 2014.
Stewart, Ian. Visions of Infinity: The Great Mathematical Problems. New York: Basic,
2013. Print.
Walkup, Nancy. "Order in the Universe: Geometric Concepts in Art and Math." School
Arts Sept. 2001: 56. Academic OneFile. Web. 15 Sept. 2014.
Wallace, David Foster. Everything and More: A Compact History of . London:
Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2003. Print.