Escher was not a formal mathematician by any means (he only had a high school education in the subject), but he was fascinated by the visual identity of mathematical concepts. Working mostly in lithographs and woodcuts, Escher explored the relationships between shape and space, interlocking figures in multi-dimensional planes and eternally spiraling spaces. He developed a serious obsession with impossible objects like the Necker Cube and the Penrose Triangle, as well as with ordered arrangements and absolute symmetry. In "Relativity," one of Escher's most famous works, several identical, egg-headed characters are depicted roaming up and down endless staircases that seem to defy the laws of gravity.

His love for math was also a major inspiration behind his master tessellations, two-dimensional designs that showed repeated, geometric shapes with no gaps or spaces in between. He often incorporated aspects of nature into these tessellations, using birds, fish and lizards to create perfectly-balanced compositions.