From Math & Poetry, let’s move on to Math & Art in our Story #47.
The Divine Proportion (Golden Ratio), a real irrational constant in algebra with an approximate value of 1.618 was used by the sculptor Phidias to build one of the most famous architectural projects of Antiquity: The Parthenon (check out the image!).
One of the most famous pieces of art, the Mona Lisa, painted by Leonardo Da Vinci, follows the Divine Proportion.
Throughout the painting, the Mona Lisa has many golden rectangles. By drawing a circle around her face, we can see it’s golden too. When we split the rectangle with a line drawn over her eyes, we get another golden rectangle, which means that her eyes have a golden proportion of her head length. Certain golden rectangles can be drawn on the rest of her body, as from her neck to the top of her hands.
The Last Supper, Old Man, and The Vitruvian Man are some other works of Da Vinci that follow the Golden Ratio.
The Vitruvian Man is the illustration of a man depicted in a circle. The man’s height is in Golden Proportion from the top of his head to his navel, and from his navel to the bottom of his feet.
The Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky, who is best renowned for his abstract paintings and for having taught at the Bauhaus, was one of the painters who used mathematics in his creations. Geometry has been a particular element of interest to the artist. Kandinsky used many mathematical concepts in his most abstract works. Concentric circles, lines, open and closed triangles, etc.
Around 1930, the artist Piet Mondrian produced some compositions that gave rise to Neoplasticism, an avant-garde movement that aimed to give a fresh perspective on art. In establishing the principles of neoplasticism, Mondrian also made use of mathematical ideas.
To sum up, unless one finds it, mathematics isn't always obvious in art. But making great art requires a lot of symmetry, geometry, and computation. Many times, mathematical findings like the Golden Ratio help artists create realistic and magnificent works of art. Angles and perspectives can also be explained using mathematics. So, there is a lot of math in the creation of art.
Sources:
<1> The Mathematics in Art by The Art of Maths.
<2> Art and Math: Aesthetics of Calculations by Rute Ferreira.
<3> Google images.
#math #mathstories #story47 #art #goldenratio #davinci #geometry
The Divine Proportion (Golden Ratio), a real irrational constant in algebra with an approximate value of 1.618 was used by the sculptor Phidias to build one of the most famous architectural projects of Antiquity: The Parthenon (check out the image!).
One of the most famous pieces of art, the Mona Lisa, painted by Leonardo Da Vinci, follows the Divine Proportion.
Throughout the painting, the Mona Lisa has many golden rectangles. By drawing a circle around her face, we can see it’s golden too. When we split the rectangle with a line drawn over her eyes, we get another golden rectangle, which means that her eyes have a golden proportion of her head length. Certain golden rectangles can be drawn on the rest of her body, as from her neck to the top of her hands.
The Last Supper, Old Man, and The Vitruvian Man are some other works of Da Vinci that follow the Golden Ratio.
The Vitruvian Man is the illustration of a man depicted in a circle. The man’s height is in Golden Proportion from the top of his head to his navel, and from his navel to the bottom of his feet.
The Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky, who is best renowned for his abstract paintings and for having taught at the Bauhaus, was one of the painters who used mathematics in his creations. Geometry has been a particular element of interest to the artist. Kandinsky used many mathematical concepts in his most abstract works. Concentric circles, lines, open and closed triangles, etc.
Around 1930, the artist Piet Mondrian produced some compositions that gave rise to Neoplasticism, an avant-garde movement that aimed to give a fresh perspective on art. In establishing the principles of neoplasticism, Mondrian also made use of mathematical ideas.
To sum up, unless one finds it, mathematics isn't always obvious in art. But making great art requires a lot of symmetry, geometry, and computation. Many times, mathematical findings like the Golden Ratio help artists create realistic and magnificent works of art. Angles and perspectives can also be explained using mathematics. So, there is a lot of math in the creation of art.
Sources:
<1> The Mathematics in Art by The Art of Maths.
<2> Art and Math: Aesthetics of Calculations by Rute Ferreira.
<3> Google images.
#math #mathstories #story47 #art #goldenratio #davinci #geometry
