M.C. Escher: The Early Years (1898–1922)

The world knows Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898–1972) as the man of impossible buildings, stairs that lead nowhere, and birds that turn into fish. But before he became this world-famous artist, he was a boy who struggled with school, loved nature, and only discovered late in life where his true talent lay. This is the story of his first 24 years, the years in which the foundation was laid for everything that was yet to come.

A Child in the Princessehof (1898–1903)

Maurits was born on June 17, 1898, in Leeuwarden, the capital of Friesland. He was the fifth and youngest son of George Arnold Escher. His father was a very intelligent man, a hydraulic engineer who had worked for years in Japan building harbors and dams. His mother was Sara Gleichman, George’s second wife. Maurits was given the nickname “Mauk”. He grew up in an environment of intellect and discipline, but also of comfort. The family lived in a beautiful city palace called the Princessehof. It is almost symbolic that this house later became a ceramics museum; the walls Mauk crawled through as a baby would later be filled with art.

As a child, Mauk was not very strong. He was often ill and had a fragile constitution. This meant he spent a lot of time indoors, where he learned to entertain himself by observing the things around him closely. His father encouraged his sons’ curiosity but also expected them to work hard.

The Arnhem Years and the Struggle at School (1903–1918)

In 1903, the family moved to Arnhem for the work of father George, who eventually retired in 1908. George wanted to live in a beautiful, green environment. Arnhem, with its parks and forests, was the perfect place for this. They moved into a large house on the Utrechtseweg. However, until 1906, Mauk (Maurits Cornelis) was not often in Arnhem; he could regularly be found in places like Zandvoort and Noordwijk aan Zee for rest and recuperation. After sufficient recovery, the time of the Arnhem school benches began for the young Mauk, and that was not a happy period. Although he came from a family of scientists and engineers, Maurits was not an outstanding student. He had great difficulty concentrating, and most subjects simply did not interest him. There was, however, a budding interest in astronomy, music, and nature. Together with his father, he saw Halley’s Comet, among other things; the piano lessons were a pleasant distraction, and the long walks in nature were enlightening.

In 1912, he went to the HBS (Higher Secondary School) in Arnhem. It is one of the greatest ironies in art history that M.C. Escher, whose work would later be adored by mathematicians all over the world, failed mathematics at school. He did not understand the abstract formulas and the dry numbers. For him, the world had to be visual; he had to be able to see and touch it. He failed two years in secondary school. His teachers saw a quiet, somewhat dreamy boy who struggled to keep up.

However, there was one subject in which he excelled: drawing. His drawing teacher at the HBS (Higher Secondary School) was F.W. van der Haagen. Van der Haagen was an important figure in the life of the young Escher. He saw that Maurits had a special sense of composition and detail. He was the one who introduced Maurits to the technique of linocut.

Instead of working only with pencil on paper, Mauk learned how to cut shapes out of a soft material using small knives. One of his first known works from this period is a portrait of his father from 1916, made in purple ink. It was still simple, but the precision that would later make him famous was already visible. At secondary school, he also met several lifelong friends, including Bas Kist, Roosje Ingen Housz, and Jan and Fiet van der Does. Meanwhile, in March 1917, the family moved once again, this time from Arnhem to Oosterbeek.

In 1918, despite his difficult school career, Maurits finally obtained his diploma. His father had a clear plan for his youngest son: he was to become an architect. That was a respectable profession in which technology and drawing came together. Maurits enrolled at the Technical University in Delft. But Delft was a disaster. It soon became clear that Maurits would never become an engineer or architect in the sense his father had envisioned. He dropped out of his studies in Delft, to the disappointment of his family. However, Delft did produce his first publication (Groentijd in the StudentenAlmanak) and the first autograph (ExLibris for Roosje Ingen Housz).

The Rescue in Haarlem: Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita (1919–1922)

After the turmoil in Delft, Maurits decided to try one more time with a course of study that aligned with his father’s wishes but offered more room for his creativity. In 1919, he moved to Haarlem to study at the School of Architecture and Decorative Arts. He started out in the direction of architecture once again, but fate intervened.

He showed some of his graphic attempts (his linocuts and woodcuts) to the graphic arts teacher, Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita. De Mesquita was a Jewish artist with a very distinctive, strong style. He immediately recognized that Maurits was a natural talent for printmaking. He convinced the young student and his parents that Maurits should immediately transfer to the graphic arts department. De Mesquita literally said that Maurits was too good to waste his time on architectural drawings.

Under De Mesquita’s guidance, Escher finally blossomed. In De Mesquita, he found not only a teacher, but also a mentor and a friend. De Mesquita taught him the technique of woodcutting. This is much more difficult than linoleum; wood is hard and has a grain that you have to take into account. You have to fight with the material.

During this period, Escher began to develop his own style. He was not yet working on ‘impossible worlds,’ but he was already experimenting with tessellations, contrast, and natural forms. The work *Flor de Pascua* contains many of these elements, including *The Scapegoat* and *Beautiful*. He was a diligent student. While other students might have gone out in Haarlem, Maurits would sit for hours bent over his wooden blocks, working with small chisels on details that were almost invisible to the naked eye.

By 1922, Maurits had completed his education. He had mastered his technique and was beginning to make a name for himself. A few publications, a few commissions, paid or unpaid, were just the beginning for the budding artist. Without the failure in Delft, the encouragement of De Mesquita, and the strict but loving upbringing by his father, the future Escher would never have emerged. In 1922, he packed his bags. His destination was Italy, and from that moment on, his art would change forever.

More coming soon as we are writting more texts…