The Golden Ratio

The golden ratio has fascinated me for a few years now. Through studying art I discovered rules of composition when planning my paintings – the most successful ones (visually pleasing) followed the golden ratio rules.

 

Great art has been based off of this rule since it was discovered. “In 1509, Luca Pacioli wrote a book that refers to the number as the “Divine Proportion,” which was illustrated by Leonardo da Vinci. Da Vinci later called this sectio aurea or the Golden section. The Golden ratio was used to achieve balance and beauty in many Renaissance paintings and sculptures.” [1]

 

Fibonacci sequence is the infinite set of numbers which applies to the construction of the golden ratio. Created by adding the previous two numbers together to create the next number in the sequence written as x_n = x_n-1 + x_n-2 which produces 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, … etc. [2]

 

 

This pattern is found in nature with formations like seed-heads, shells, spiral galaxies and DNA molecules. Furthermore, “Faces judged as the most attractive show Golden ratio proportions between the width of the face and the width of the eyes, nose, and eyebrows.” [1] Revealing that a formula found in nature is an aesthetic ideal of beauty.

Being someone who is fascinated with geometry and psychology, the idea of a mathematical rule that pleases the mind is a real interest to me.

For the last couple of years I have been using the golden ratio to inform the compositions of my paintings, photographs and sculptures.

Recently, for my final major project I have been researching into science to inform the concepts within my artworks. I’ve found that my personal artistic style is quite minimalist, and good composition (i.e. following golden ratio) is the key to a successful minimalist artwork, in my opinion. Although I often make tasks far too complicated for myself, when it comes to aesthetics I like to reduce things down to a simpler form – this is why I am attracted to abstraction and also why I am fascinated with the microscopic world with forms like diatoms etc. (but that is a whole other topic for another post) But by looking deeper into my interests that are scientific and mathematical I am learning that everything is connected in very interesting ways and I’m looking forward to how I can combine these ideas into my project and what the aesthetic result will be.

 

Reference:

1. Elaine J. Hom, 2013
2. https://www.mathsisfun.com/numbers/golden-ratio.html
3. https://medium.com/@MateMarschalko/the-golden-ratio-in-sass-and-css-development-f958e18aa640