Maurits Cornelius (more correctly, "Cornelis") Escher was a Dutch artist who died in 1972 at the age of 73.

Famous for his etchings of visual and spatial illusions, as well as tessellations (roughly, regular divisions of the plane or 3D space).

More information and some of his amazing images can be found at http://www.worldofescher.com/.
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http://www.greatmodernpictures.com/mce23sm.jpg
http://www.klaverkamp.de/raetsel/bilder/optik-escher-belvedere.jpg

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http://www.is.svitonline.com/malinman/rus/anompic/Belvedere.jpg

Many of Escher's works are based on tessellations and optical illusions. For example, one man in "Belvedere" holds an impossible box:

http://www.aspecialplace.net/illusions/images/crate.gif

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The lithograph "Ascending and Descending" is based on the PenroseStaircase:

http://www.andrewlipson.com/escher/ascending.jpg

Done in Lego:

http://www.andrewlipson.com/escher/lego_ascending.jpg

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CategoryArtist