This is Plane Filling II, a lithograph from July 1957 without an underlying system. The shapes extend out in all directions. It is perhaps the weirdest print in Escher’s oeuvre.

On 4 July 1935, the Escher family moved from Rome to the Swiss town of Château-d’Oex, out of sheer necessity. Maurits would have liked to stay in Italy, but he found the rise of fascism increasingly hard to stomach. His sons being forced to wear Mussolini uniforms was the last straw. But there was a second reason. The youngest son, Arthur, suffered from tuberculosis and moving to the mountains would improve his health. The fact that Nina, Jetta’s sister, was already living in Switzerland, brought Château-d’Oex even more into the picture.

After their holidays with the Schiblers in Steckborn the Escher family travels to the Netherlands at the end of June 1931. Jette and the kids would stay until 1 September and Maurits until 18 September. He used these 3½ months to enhance and broaden his technique. He visited the artist Fokko Mees, who taught him the possibilities of end-grain engraving with a chisel. Escher bought a graver with a magnifier to create this very detailed work.

Summer! It's the longest day of the year. Escher in The Palace wishes everyone beautiful weeks with lots of sunshine and relaxation. Maurits Escher himself sets a good example. In June 1931 he was with his family in the Swiss town of Steckborn. Jetta's sister Nina and her husband Oskar Schibler lived there, at whose residence they used to spend their summer holidays. The Schibler house was located at the lake of Konstanz. On this page from his private photo albums we see Maurits and his sons in a canoe at the lake, enjoying the summer sun and the Swiss mountain air.

Father's day! Maurits Cornelis Escher was an artist but also a husband and father. From his marriage to Jetta three sons were born: George Arnold (23 July 1926), Arthur Eduard (8 December 1928) en Jan Christoffel (6 March 1938).

Today is Eschers Birthday! On 17 June 1898 at 7.15 Maurits Cornelis Escher was born in the substantial parental house in Leeuwarden, in what is now The Princessehof National Museum of Ceramics. Not that he was fond of birthdays himself. He used to say life was too short to create everything he wanted. His birthday only reminded him of the passage of time.

On 16 June 1924 Maurits marries Jetta Umiker in the Italian coastal town Viareggio. The eldest daughter of the Swiss businessman Arturo Umiker and the Italian Enrichetta Cataneo, she was a silent girl whom he had met in Ravello 15 months earlier. Maurits was fascinated by this melancholic, sickly girl. He believed she was unhappy and the infatuated young man hoped to make her happy. Though not necessarily through marriage, as he was afraid of losing his artistic freedom and wanted more time to get to know Jetta.

George Arnold Escher was 96 years old when he passed away on 14 June 1939. It was therefore no surprise to his son Maurits that his death was near. Yet it felt like a shock. Maurits was the last of father Escher’s five sons (two of whom were from his first marriage).

In May 1933, Escher made a trip across Corsica with his friends Giuseppe Haas-Triverio and Roberto Schiess. Corsica was quite rugged and desolate in those days, inhabited by just 150,000 people. Within five weeks, they crossed the island on foot, by carriage, and by bus. The medieval town of Nonza was the subject of a lithograph Escher made the following winter.

On 6 June 1935 Escher’s father received a letter from his son informing him that a rich architect had bought ten of his prints for 900 lire.* This sum was nearly enough to cover his trip to Sicily he was on at the time. It was a high point of what was to be a year of financial disaster for Escher.