M. C. Escher in popular culture

For the main article on the artist, see M. C. Escher.


 * The Doctor Who episode Castrovalva takes its name from Escher's early lithograph of the same name, though Escher's view of Castrovalva has none of the paradoxical elements of his later works to which the setting of the episode could more readily be compared.
 * Eric Shanower's illustrations of the Absurd City in Paradox in Oz are clearly based on Escher's illustrations.
 * Similarly, on Comedy Central animated series Drawn Together, the episode "Clara's Dirty Little Secret" featured a supposedly pregnant Princess Clara being pushed down by Toot Braunstein (and up, around, and back down) a flight of stairs modeled on Relativity in the aptly named M. C. Escher Room.
 * In the Jim Henson movie Labyrinth, Relativity is referenced again. The audience is again treated to an answer to the great question: what if somebody walks off the edge? The Escher estate was given acknowledgement in the credits for the film.
 * In Larry Niven's novel Protector, the protagonist builds a working model of Relativity using gravitational engineering.Protector, p. 156
 * The bonus stages of the first Sonic the Hedgehog game, for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, feature an animated background of birds turning into fish, a reference to Sky and Water.
 * The early nineties rock music group Chagall Guevara wrote a song called "Escher's World" which made many references to the impossible structures that can be found in Escher's work.[]
 * Escher is also the subject of a song by the rock group The Breakfast. The song is called "Escher's Etchings" and is included on their 2003 live album Bona Fide. The lyrics can be read here
 * The interior of the Temple of The Ancients in Final Fantasy VII is modeled after M.C. Escher's Relativity.
 * The music video for "Around the World" by Daft Punk, directed by Michel Gondry, is based on Escher's Encounter.
 * The music video for "Drive" by Incubus is based on Drawing Hands, beginning with an animated hand drawing a piece of paper and second hand to form the actual Escher drawing. It also shows the hand drawing lead singer Brandon Boyd to attach itself to. All drawings in the video were done by the band members themselves.


 * A comic crossover between Mike Allred's Madman and Bernie Mireault's The Jam, features Escher as a central character when the two characters enter into an alternate universe created by a somewhat godlike Escher, based on many of his works.
 * "Escher" is the title of a song by the British band Teenage Fanclub. The song is about a man who doesn't know if he is up or down.
 * "Weird Al" Yankovic's 2006 song, White & Nerdy contains the lyrics "M.C. Escher—that's my favorite MC."
 * One of Jeremy Shafer's origami models, 'Folding The Blintz Base', is based on M.C. Escher's 'Drawing Hands', which inspired him as it was on the cover of Peter Engels origami book "Origami: From Angelfish to Zen".
 * In the 1989 motion picture "A Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Child" Freddy Krueger creates an enormous M.C. Escher-like maze (which is designed from the Church, the Junkyard, the Asylum, the Boiler Room, and 1428 Elm Street, all parts of the dreamworld Krueger uses on his victims) which the final showdown between Krueger and Alice takes place.