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{\it Quotations from M.C. Escher's Writings -- Class on Wednesday, 3/16}
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With reference to his regular division of the plane drawings:
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{\it ``I cannot imagine what my life would be like if this problem 
had never occurred to me.  One might say that I am head over heels
in love with it, and I still don't know why.''}
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With reference to the relation of his work to the classification
of the 17 types of ``wallpaper symmetry groups:''
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{\it ``Crystallographers have put forward a definition of the
idea; they have ascertained  ... how many systems or ways there
are of dividing a plane in a regular manner.  In so doing, they
have opened the gate to an extensive domain, but they have
not entered the domain themselves.   By their very nature,
they are more interested in the way in which the gate is opened
than in the garden lying behind it. ... A long time ago I
chanced upon this domain in one of my wanderings; I saw a high
wall and as I had a premonition of an enigma, something that might
be hidden behind the wall, I climbed over it with some difficulty.
However on the other side I landed in a wilderness and had to cut
my way through with a great effort until--by a circuitous route--I
came to the open gate, the open gate of mathematics.  From there, 
well-trodden paths lead in every direction and then I suddenly
discover a new path and experience fresh delights ... I feel
a revitalizing yet oppressive sense of loneliness.  That is
why I have been extolling the existence of this paradise
for many years ... even though I do not expect many people
to wander through.  For what fascinates me ... often seems
to be considered dry and tedious by others.''}
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With reference to one of his contacts with a mathematician
(H.S.M. Coxeter -- one of the great geometers of the 20th century).
Note:  This quotation refers to part of the genesis of the {\it Circle
Limit} prints we saw last semester in connection with non-Euclidean
geometries.
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{\it ``His hocus-pocus text is of no use to me at all, but the picture
can probably help me produce a division of the plane which promises
to become an entirely new variation of my series of divisions of 
the plane.''}
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With reference to his affinity with scientists (and mathematicians):
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{\it ``I have often felt closer to people who work scientifically
(though I certainly do not do so myself) than to my fellow artists.''}
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As we said in class, his systematic explorations of colored 
tilings were closer to mathematical research than he might
have realized(!)
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