Order and Chaos II is a companion print to Order and Chaos I, 1950, which features the same crystal star amidst a background of fragmented glass and broken objects, symbolizing natural order prevailing over chaos. Escher states "I try in my prints to testify that we live in a beautiful and orderly world and not in a formless chaos, as it sometimes seems." In 1955, Escher was commissioned by the Masonic Foundation Rite and Temple Building (linked to the Dutch Freemasonry) to create a print encapsulating these same ideals. The stark geometry of the crystal star, contrasted against the organic pebble and shell forms, mirrors the same victory of order over chaos and acknowledges the coexistence of the two.
