Oscar Reutersvärd (2021)

The Pioneer Behind Iconic Visual Illusions

When mentioning visual illusions with impossible structures like Belvedere, Waterfall, or Ascending and Descending, the name M.C. Escher usually comes to mind first. However, few know that behind impossible figures like the Penrose triangle or the infinite staircase lies the shadow of a Swedish artist: Oscar Reutersvärd. He is regarded as the archetypal "father" of impossible figures, someone who spent his entire life obsessed with realizing the impossible on paper.

Discoveries Ahead of Their Time

Just as Escher saw the regular division of the plane as his domain, Reutersvärd took the same view of impossible figures. As early as 1934, when he was only 18, Reutersvärd created the shape that the Penroses would not publish until 1958. In a eureka moment while sketching cubes in perspective, he accidentally created an impossible triangle—a form that can be drawn in two-dimensional form but can never exist in three-dimensional form.

In 1937, he designed the impossible staircase, many years before the Penroses published their scientific article Impossible Objects: A Special Type of Visual Illusion. These discoveries remained hidden from the world for a long time. It wasn’t until 1984 that Roger Penrose discovered that Oscar Reutersvärd had invented them much earlier.

Isometric Projection and the Difference from Escher

Reutersvärd was not the first to attempt to fool the human brain. Predecessors like William Hogarth or Giovanni Battista Piranesi had used perspective tricks to create dizzying effects in their works. However, Reutersvärd was the first to deal with these forms consistently and systematically.

The hallmark of his style was the strict application of isometric projection. In this technique, perspective lines run in parallel and never touch at a vanishing point. Unlike Escher—who often concealed impossible shapes within a highly detailed, realistic setting to deceive the viewer—Reutersvärd chose a minimalist approach. He drew thousands of pure shapes, without decoration, letting the "impossibility" speak for itself.

A Versatile Career: From Professor to Sculptor

Born in 1915 in Stockholm, Reutersvärd was not only a painter but also a brilliant art historian. He studied in Paris under the artist Fernand Léger and later served as a professor at Lund University from 1964 to 1981.

In addition to drawing, he was a sculptor, maze designer, and a champion of abstract art in Sweden. Although he tried to contact M.C. Escher several times to exchange professional ideas, for some reason, Escher never responded. It wasn’t until the mid-1980s, through the books of mathematician Bruno Ernst, that the names of the two artists were truly placed side by side.

Legacy in the Digital Age and Video Games

In 1982, Sweden issued a set of stamps honoring Reutersvärd’s impossible figures, triggering a resurgence of interest in his legacy. While he may be less globally famous than Escher, Reutersvärd’s influence remains strong in popular culture and technology.

Today, we can clearly see his mark in modern video games. Famous titles like Echochrome (2009) or Monument Valley (2014) fully exploit isometric perspective and impossible figures to create unique puzzle gameplay. This is the most vivid testament to how the "impossible" ideas of an 18-year-old boy in 1934 continue to challenge and fascinate the human mind in the digital age.