Born in Leenwarden (1898)
Escher was the youngest son of a hydraulic engineer, G.A. Escher. His father wanted him to study science and to become an architect.

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Family moved to Arnhem (1903)

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Escher enters high school (1911)
Escher enters high school at age 13, and was an awful student. The only thing he had to look forward to each week were his 2 hours in art class, where he made linocuts with his friend Kist. Escher had to repeat 2 grades, and never got his diploma.

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School of Architecture and Decorative Arts, Haarlem (1919-1922)
Escher studied briefly under the architect Vorrink, until Samuel Jesserun de Mesquita gave a lecture in graphic techniques. It was then that he left architecture to study the decorative arts.

Escher's interest in decorative arts was sparked by Samuel Jesserun de Mesquita's lecture in graphic techniques. Still, Escher did not blossom overnight. While he was mastering the woodcut, his reviews from the school were dismal: "he is too tight, too literary-philosophical, a young man too lacking in feeling or caprice, too little of an artist."

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Escher leaves the school (1922)
After 2 years of study, Escher left the school to strike out on his own. He moved to Italy and spent time traveling while making woodcuts of Italian landscapes.

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Escher finds Ravello (1923)
His travels bring him to Ravello in southern Italy which he found "bewitchingly beautiful." Here he saw architecture in which Moorish and Saracen elements were attractively interwoven, Moorish and Saracen elements which would influence his creations in years to come.

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Escher meets Jetta Umriker (1924)
While in Ravello, Escher met Jetta Umriker, the daughter of a Swiss man, whom he married later that year. Their first son, George, was born in 1926.

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Escher's travels (1925-1935)
Throughout this 10 year period, Escher traveled, taking two months a year to travel throughout Italy, sketching impressions. Often with several of his colleagues, he would set out across the country with few clothes and little money, returning with the riches of his sketches.

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Escher's work receives recognition (1930)
Finally, in 1930, Escher's work, namely for his lithograph "Castrovolva," receives critical acclaim.

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More Moorish influences (1936)
Escher traded 24 prints for a cruise on a cargo ship through the Mediterranean. During this time, he visted

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Profit returns (1951)
He sells 89 works for a total of 5,000 guilders.

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Profit returns (1954)
He sells 338 works for a total of 16,000 guilders. By this time, Escher is a well-known figure in the artistic world.

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Escher dies (1972)

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