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National Gallery of Art - THE COLLECTION

Tour: M.C. Escher — Life and Work

Overview | Start Tour

image of Escher's Father, G.A. Escher image of Wild West image of Eight Heads
1 2 3
image of The Second Day of the Creation image of Self-Portrait image of Castrovalva
4 5 6
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Overview

The Dutch artist Maurits C. Escher (1898-1972) was a draftsman, book illustrator, tapestry designer, and muralist, but his primary work was as a printmaker. Born in Leeuwarden, Holland, the son of a civil engineer, Escher spent most of his childhood in Arnhem. Aspiring to be an architect, Escher enrolled in the School for Architecture and Decorative Arts in Haarlem. While studying there from 1919 to 1922, his emphasis shifted from architecture to drawing and printmaking upon the encouragement of his teacher Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita. In 1924 Escher married Jetta Umiker, and the couple settled in Rome to raise a family. They resided in Italy until 1935, when growing political turmoil forced them to move first to Switzerland, then to Belgium. In 1941, with World War II under way and German troops occupying Brussels, Escher returned to Holland and settled in Baarn, where he lived and worked until shortly before his death. (continue)


Captions

1.
1M.C. Escher, Escher's Father, G.A. Escher, 1916
2M.C. Escher, Wild West, 1920
3M.C. Escher, Eight Heads, 1922
4M.C. Escher, The Second Day of the Creation, 1925
5M.C. Escher, Self-Portrait, 1929
6M.C. Escher, Castrovalva, 1930
2.
7M.C. Escher, Italian Town, 1930
8M.C. Escher, Atrani, Coast of Amalfi, 1931
9M.C. Escher, Still Life with Mirror, 1934
10M.C. Escher, Hand with Reflecting Sphere, 1935
11M.C. Escher, Still Life and Street, 1937
12M.C. Escher, Metamorphosis I, 1937
3.
13M.C. Escher, Development I, 1937
14M.C. Escher, Day and Night, 1938
15M.C. Escher, Reptiles, 1943
16M.C. Escher, Balcony, 1945
17M.C. Escher, Three Spheres II, 1946
18M.C. Escher, Other World (Another World), 1947
4.
19M.C. Escher, Gallery, 1946
20M.C. Escher, Drawing Hands, 1948
21M.C. Escher, Contrast (Order and Chaos), 1950
22M.C. Escher, Relativity, 1953
23M.C. Escher, Waterfall, 1961
24M.C. Escher, Snakes, 1969