The father of the impossible figure
A Swedish artist who drew his first impossible triangle at 18, then thousands more.
How this site works. Every fact is in our own words and linked to its source, beside it. Where good sources disagree, we show each version in a “Sources differ” box. Every drawing is our own.
Life
The Escher museum calls him the archetypal father of the impossible figure. Escher in The Palace
The Illusions Index calls him the ‘father of the impossible figure’. Illusions Index
Oscar Reutersvärd was born in Stockholm in 1915. Escher in The Palace He died on 2 February 2002. Escher in The Palace
In 1950 a grant took him to Paris to study with the artist Fernand Léger. Escher in The Palace He was professor of art history and art theory at Lund University from 1964 to 1981. Escher in The Palace
He also designed mazes, some built outdoors in Sweden. Escher in The Palace
1934: the first triangle
In 1934, aged only 18, he drew an impossible triangle while sketching cubes in perspective. Escher in The Palace A later colour lithograph of the first impossible triangle carries the title Opus 1. Escher in The Palace
Sources differ: where was he when he drew it?
- In 1934, aged only 18, he drew an impossible triangle while sketching cubes in perspective. Escher in The Palace
- MathWorld says he drew it in 1934 during a “long lecture”. MathWorld
- The Illusions Index says it is anecdotally, but widely, reported that he made it in 1934 while doodling in a Latin class. Illusions Index
Stairs, thousands of figures and one projection
He designed an impossible staircase in 1937. Escher in The Palace
He always used the same isometric projection, where the lines of perspective stay parallel and never meet at a vanishing point. Escher in The Palace He numbered his reproduced figures under the title ‘perspective japonaise’. Escher in The Palace
He drew thousands of them, plain, with no settings or decoration, unlike Escher, who hid his impossibilities in realistic scenes. Escher in The Palace
Found out late
His early discoveries stayed hidden for decades: Roger Penrose only found out in 1984 that Reutersvärd had drawn the triangle and the stairs first. Escher in The Palace
Seeing what the Penroses and Escher were doing rekindled his own enthusiasm for impossible figures. Escher in The Palace
Sweden honoured him with a stamp in 1982. MathWorld
Reutersvärd drew his own impossible version of Escher’s Cubic Space Division, where the front blocks don’t really touch. Escher in The Palace
Was he the first?
He wasn’t the first to fool the eye: William Hogarth (1697–1774) made an engraving in 1754 full of perspective tricks. Escher in The Palace Giovanni Battista Piranesi hid similar tricks in the walls and stairs of his Carceri d’Invenzione prison scenes. Escher in The Palace
Sources differ: the first impossible figure
- The Escher museum calls him the archetypal father of the impossible figure. Escher in The Palace
- The Illusions Index says Reutersvärd created it first and the Penroses discovered it independently and made it popular. Illusions Index
- Michael Bach notes the first impossible object is often credited to Reutersvärd, but Josef Albers and Hogarth were clearly earlier. Michael Bach
- Bach lists Josef Albers’s “Rolled Wrongly” from 1931 and Hogarth’s Satire on False Perspective from 1754. Michael Bach
- The oldest impossible scene Bach knows is the Madonna and Child in the Pericope of Henry II, from around 1025, though he thinks that one was probably not on purpose. Michael Bach
René Magritte painted an impossible scene too: “Carte blanche”, 1965. Michael Bach
Our view: “father of the impossible figure” is fair. Others drew impossible scenes before him, but he was the first to make the impossible figure itself the whole picture, again and again.