Mathematics and artFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mathematics in art: Albrecht Dürer's copper plate engraving Melencolia I, 1514

Mathematics and art have a long historical relationship. The ancient Egyptians and ancient Greeks knew

about the golden ratio, regarded as an aesthetically pleasing ratio. They incorporated it and other mathematical

relationships, such as the 3:4:5 triangle, into the design of monuments including the Great Pyramid,

[1] the Parthenon, the Colosseum.[2][3] There are many examples of artists who have been inspired

by mathematicsand studied mathematics as a means of complementing their works. The Greek

sculptor Polykleitos prescribed a series of mathematical proportions for carving the ideal male

nude. Renaissance painters turned to mathematics and many, including Piero della Francesca, became

accomplished mathematicians themselves.

Contents

  [hide] 

1 Overview

2 Ancient times

o 2.1 The Golden Ratio

2.1.1 Pyramids

2.1.2 Parthenon

2.1.3 Great Mosque of Kairouan

o 2.2 Polykleitos

3 Renaissance

o 3.1 Paolo Uccello

o 3.2 Piero della Francesca

o 3.3 Notre Dame

o 3.4 Albrecht Dürer

o 3.5 De Divina Proportione

o 3.6 Da Vinci

4 Industrial and modern times

o 4.1 Penrose tiles

o 4.2 Eden Project

o 4.3 California Polytechnic State University

o 4.4 M.C. Escher

o 4.5 Salvador Dalí

o 4.6 Pablo Palazuelo

o 4.7 John Robinson

o 4.8 The Eightfold Way

o 4.9 Fractal art

o 4.10 Platonic solids in art

5 See also

6 References

7 External links

Overview[edit]

Galileo Galilei in his Il Saggiatore wrote that “[The universe] is written in the language of mathematics, and its

characters are triangles, circles, and other geometric figures.”[4] Artists who strive and seek to study nature

must therefore first fully understand mathematics. On the other hand, mathematicians have sought to interpret

and analyse art through the lens of geometry and rationality.

Ancient times[edit]

The Golden Ratio[edit]

The Golden Ratio, roughly equal to 1.618, was first formally introduced in text by Greek

mathematician Pythagoras and later by Euclid in the 5th century BC. In the fourth century BC, Aristotlenoted its

aesthetic properties.[5] Aside from interesting mathematical properties, geometric shapes derived from the

golden ratio, such as the golden rectangle, the golden triangle, and Kepler’s triangle, were believed to be

aesthetically pleasing. As such, many works of ancient art exhibit and incorporate the golden ratio in their

design. Various authors can discern the presence of the golden ratio in Egyptian, Summerian and Greek vases,

Chinese pottery, Olmec sculptures, and Cretan and Mycenaean products from as early as the late Bronze Age.

[6] The prevalence of this special number in art and architecture even before its formal discovery by Pythagoras

is perhaps evidence of an instinctive and primal human cognitive preference for the golden ratio.[7]

Pyramids[edit]

Pyramid of Khufu

Evidence of mathematical influences in art is present in the Great Pyramids, built by Egyptian

Pharaoh Khufu and completed in 2560BC.Pyramidologists since the nineteenth century have noted the

presence of the golden ratio in the design of the ancient monuments. They note that the length of the base

edges range from 755–756 feet while the height of the structure is 481.4 feet. Working out the math, the

perpendicular bisector of the side of the pyramid comes out to 612 feet.[8] If we divide the slant height of the

pyramid by half its base length, we get a ratio of 1.619, less than 1% from the golden ratio. This would also

indicate that half the cross-section of the Khufu’s pyramid is in fact a Kepler’s triangle. Debate has broken out

between prominent pyramidologists, including Temple Bell, Michael Rice, and John Taylor, over whether the

presence of the golden ratio in the pyramids is due to design or chance. Of note, Rice contends that experts

of Egyptian architecture have argued that ancient Egyptian architects have long known about the existence of

the golden ratio. In addition, three other pyramidologists, Martin Gardner, Herbert Turnbull, and David

Burton contend that:

Possible base:hypotenuse(b:a) ratios for the Pyramid of Khufu: 1:φ (Kepler’s Triangle), 3:5 (3-4-5 Triangle), and 1:4/π

Herodotus related in one passage that the Egyptian priests told him that the dimensions of the Great Pyramid

were so chosen that the area of a square whose side was the height of the great pyramid equaled the area of

the triangle.[9]

This passage, if true, would undeniably prove the intentional presence of the golden ratio in the pyramids.

However, the validity of this assertion is found to be questionable.[10] Critics of this golden ratio theory note that

it is far more likely that the original Egyptian architects modeled the pyramid after the3-4-5 triangle, rather than

the Kepler’s triangle. According to the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, an ancient papyrus that is the best

example of Egyptian math  dating back to the Second Intermediate Period of Egypt, the Egyptians certainly

knew about and used the 3-4-5 triangle extensively in mathematics and architecture. While Kepler’s triangle

has a face angle of 51°49’, the 3-4-5 triangle has a face angle of 53°8’, very close to the Kepler’s triangle.

[11] Another triangle that is close is one whose perimeter is 2π the height such that the base to hypotenuse ratio

is 1:4/π. With a face angle of 51°50’, it is also very similar to Kepler’s triangle. While the exact triangle the

Egyptians chose to design their pyramids after remains unclear, the fact that the dimensions of pyramids

correspond so strongly to a special right triangle suggest a strong mathematical influence in the last

standing ancient wonder.

Parthenon[edit]

The Parthenon is a temple dedicated the Greek goddess Athena, built in the 5th century BC on the Athenian

Acropolis. It is contended that Phidias, the main Greek sculptor in charge of decorating the Parthenon, also

knew about the golden ratio and its aesthetic properties. In fact, the Greek symbol for the Golden Ratio is

named Phi (φ) because of Phidias.[12] The golden rectangle, a rectangle whose length to width ratio is the

golden ratio and considered the most pleasing to the eye, is almost omnipresent in the façade and floor plans

of the Parthenon. The entire façade may be enclosed within a golden rectangle.[13] The ratio of the length of

a metope and triglyph to the height of the frieze, as well as the height of the columns and stylobate to the entire

height of the temple is also the golden ratio. Phidias himself constructed many Parthenon statues that

meticulously embody the golden ratio.[14] Phidias is also notable for his contributions to theAthena

Parthenos and the Statue of Zeus. As with the Pyramids however, more recent historians challenge the

purposeful inclusion of the golden ratio in Greek temples, such as the Parthenon, contending that earlier

studies have purposefully fitted in measurements of the temple until it conformed to a golden rectangle.

Great Mosque of Kairouan[edit]

Floor plan of the Great Mosque of Kairouan

The oldest mosque in North Africa is the Great Mosque of Kairouan (Tunisia), built by Uqba ibn Nafi in 670 A.D.

Boussora and Mazouz’s study of the mosque dimensions reveals a very consistent application of the golden

ratio in its design. Boussora and Mazouz contend:

“The geometric technique of construction of the golden section seems to have determined the major decisions of the spatial organisation. The golden section appears repeatedly in some part of the building measurements. It is found in the overall proportion of the plan and in the dimensioning of the prayer space, the court and the minaret. The existence of the golden section in some parts of Kairouan mosque indicates that the elements designed and generated with this principle may have been realised at the same period.[15] ”

Because of urban constraints, the mosque's floor plan is not a perfect rectangle. Even so, for example, the

division of the courtyard and prayer hall is almost a perfect golden ratio.

Polykleitos[edit]

Roman Copy of Doryphoros, originally by Polykleitos. It is the perfect example of the ideal male nude, as characterized in

theCanon of Polykleitos

Polykleitos the Elder (c.450-420B.C.) was a Greek sculptor from the school of Argos who was also a

contemporary of Phidias. His works and statues consisted mainly of bronze and were of athletes. According to

the mathematician Xenocrates, Polykleitos is ranked as one of the most important sculptors of Classical

antiquity for his work on the Doryphorus and the statue of Hera in the Heraion of Argos.[16] While his sculptures

may not be as famous as those Phidias, he is better known for his approach towards sculpture. In the Canon of

Polykleitos, a treatise he wrote designed to document the “perfect” anatomical proportions of the male nude,

Polykleitos gives us a mathematical approach towards sculpturing the human body. The influence of

the Canon of Polykleitos is immense both in Classical Greek, Roman, and Renaissance sculpture, with many

sculptors after him following Polykleitos’ prescription. While none of Polykleitos’ original works survive, Roman

copies of his works demonstrate and embody his ideal of physical perfection and mathematical precision.

Some scholars contend the influence of the mathematician Pythagoras on the Canon of Polykleitos.

[17] The Canon applies the basic mathematical concepts of Greek geometry, such as the ratio, proportion,

and symmetria (Greek for “harmonious proportions”) and turns it into a system capable of describing the human

form through a series of continuous geometric progressions. Polykleitos starts with a specific human body part,

the distal phalanges of the little finger, or the tip of the little finger to the first joint, and establishes that as the

basic module or unit for determining all the other proportions of the human body.[18] From that, Polykleitos

multiplies the length by radical 2 (1.14142) to get the distance of the second phalanges and multiplies the

length again by radical 2 to get the length of the third phalanges. Next, he takes the finger length and multiplies

it again by radical 2 to get the length of the palm from the base of the finger to the ulna. This geometric

series of measurements progress until Polykleitos has formed the arm, chest, body, and so on. Other

proportions are less set. For example, the ideal body should be 8 heads high and 2 heads wide. However,

ordinary figures are 7½ heads tall while heroic figures are 8½ heads tall.

Renaissance[edit]

The Renaissance saw a rebirth of Classical Greek and Roman culture and ideas, among them the study of

mathematics as a relevant subject needed to understand nature and the arts. Two major reasons drove

Renaissance artists towards the pursuit of mathematics. First, painters needed to figure out how to depict

three-dimensional scenes on a two-dimensional canvas. Second, philosophers and artists alike were convinced

that mathematics was the true essence of the physical world and that the entire universe, including the arts,

could be explained in geometric terms.[19] In light of these factors, Renaissance artists became some of the best

applied mathematicians of their times.

Paolo Uccello[edit]

Italian painter Paolo Uccello (1397–1475) was fascinated by the study of perspective. A marble mosaic in the

floor of the San Marco Basilica in Venice featuring the small stellated dodecahedron is attributed to Uccello.[20]

Piero della Francesca[edit]

Rays of light travel from an object to the eye. Where those rays originate from the picture plane, the object is drawn.

Piero della Francesca (c.1415-1492), an early Renaissance artist from Italy, exemplified this new shift in

Renaissance thinking. Though chiefly appreciated for his art, he was an

expert mathematician and geometer and authored many books on solid geometry and the emerging field

ofperspective, including De Prospectiva Pingendi (On Perspective for Painting), Trattato d’Abaco (Abacus

Treatise), and De corporibus regularibus (Regular Solids).[21][22][23] Historian Vasari in the Lives of the

Painters calls Piero the “greatest geometer of his time, or perhaps of any time.”[24] He was deeply interested in

the theoretical study of perspective and this was apparent in many of his paintings, including the S. Agostino

altarpiece andThe Flagellation of Christ. His work on geometry influenced later mathematicians and artists,

including Luca Pacioli in his De Divina Proportione andLeonardo da Vinci.

Piero began his study of classical mathematics and the works of the Greek mathematician Archimedes in the

library at Urbino.[25] In addition to this classical training, Piero was taught commercial arithmetic in “abacus

schools,” evidenced indirectly by his own writings which copies the format of abacus school textbooks.[26] It is

possible therefore that he was influenced by the works of Leonardo Pisano (Fibonacci) from which those

abacus textbooks were derived. Piero lived in the time when linear perspective was just being introduced in the

artistic world. Leon Battista Alberti sums up the idea: “light rays travel in straight lines from points in the

observed scene to the eye, forming a kind of pyramid with the eye as vertex.”[27] The painting therefore is

a cross-sectional plane of that pyramid. The study of perspective precedes Piero and the Renaissance

however. Before perspective, artists typically sized objects and figures according to their thematic importance.

Perspective was first observed in 5th century B.C. Greece and Euclid’s Optics first introduced a mathematical

theory of perspective. Muslim mathematician Alhazen extended the theory of optics in his Book of Optics in

1021 A.D., although he never applied these principals to art. Perspective first exploded onto the Renaissance

artistic scene with Giotto di Bondone, who attempted to draw in perspective using an algebraic method to

determine the placement of distant lines. In 1415, Italian architect Filippo Brunelleschi and his friend Leon

Battista Alberti demonstrated the geometrical method of applying perspective in Florence, centered around the

usage ofsimilar triangles, a mathematical concept formulated long ago by Euclid, in determining the apparent

height of distant objects.[28] However, Piero is the first painter to write a practical treatise for the application of

this idea in art in his De Prospectiva Pingendi.

Piero della Francesca’s Flagellation of Christ showing Piero’s usage of linear perspective

In De Prospectiva Pingendi, Peiro painstakingly transforms art and his empirical observations into “vera

scientia” (true science), i.e. into mathematical proofs. His treatise starts like any mathematics book in the vein

of Euclid: he defines the point as “essere una costa tanto picholina quanto e possible ad ochio comprendere”

(being the tiniest thing that is possible for the eye to comprehend).[19] From there, Piero uses a series

of deductive logic to lead us, theorem by theorem, to the perspective representation of a three-dimensional

body. Piero realized that the way aspects of a figure changed with the point of view obeyed precise and

determinable mathematical laws. Piero methodically presented a series of perspective problems to gradually

ease his reader from easy to increasingly complex problems. Mark Peterson explains:

In Book I, after some elementary constructions to introduce the idea of the apparent size of an object being

actually its angle subtended at the eye, and referring to Euclid's Elements Books I and VI, and Euclid's Optics,

he turns, in Proposition 13, to the representation of a square lying flat on the ground in front of the viewer. What

should the artist actually draw? After this, objects are constructed in the square (tilings, for example, to

represent a tiled floor), and corresponding objects are constructed in perspective; in Book II prisms are erected

over these planar objects, to represent houses, columns, etc.; but the basis of the method is the original

square, from which everything else follows.[29]

Notre Dame[edit]

Illustration of the Notre-Dame of Laon cathedral.

In his 1919 book Ad Quadratum, Frederik Macody Lund, a historian who studied the geometry of several gothic

structures, claims that the Cathedral of Chartres(begun in the 12th century), the Notre-Dame of Laon (1157–

1205), and the Notre Dame de Paris (1160) are designed according to the golden ratio.[30] According to Macody

Lund, the superimposed regulator lines show that the cathedral has golden proportions. Other scholars argue

that until Pacioli's 1509 publication, the golden ratio was unknown to artists and architects.[31]

Albrecht Dürer[edit]

Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) was a German Renaissance printmaker who made important contributions to

polyhedral literature in his book, Underweysung der Messung (Education on Measurement) (1525), meant to

teach the subjects of linear perspective, geometry in architecture, Platonic solids, and regular polygons. Dürer

was likely influenced by the works of Luca Pacioli and Piero della Francesca during his trips to Italy.[32] While

the examples of perspective in Underweysung der Messung are underdeveloped and contain a number of

inaccuracies, the manual does contain a very interesting discussion of polyhedra. Dürer is also the first to

introduce in text the idea of polyhedral nets, polyhedra unfolded to lie flat for printing.[33] Dürer published

another influential book on human proportions called Vier Bücher von Menschlicher Proportion (Four Books on

Human Proportion) in 1528.

Dürer's well-known engraving Melencolia I depicts a frustrated thinker sitting by what is best interpreted as a

“truncated rhomboid” or a “rhombohedron with 72-degree face angles, which has been truncated so it can be

inscribed in a sphere”.[34] It has been the subject of more modern interpretation than almost any other print,

[35] including a two-volume book by Peter-Klaus Schuster,[36] and an influential discussion in Erwin Panofsky's

monograph of Dürer.[37]

De Divina Proportione[edit]

The first printed illustration of a rhombicuboctahedron, byLeonardo da Vinci, published in De divina proportione.

Written by Luca Pacioli in Milan from 1496–98, published in Venice in 1509, De Divina Proportione was

about mathematical and artistic proportion. Leonardo da Vinci drew illustrations of regular solids in De divina

proportione while he lived with and took mathematics lessons from Pacioli. Leonardo's drawings are probably

the first illustrations of skeletonic solids, which allowed an easy distinction between front and back.

[38] Skeletonic solids, such as the rhombicuboctahedron, were one of the first solids drawn to demonstrate

perspective by being overlaid on top of each other. Additionally, the work also discusses the use of perspective

by painters such as Piero della Francesca, Melozzo da Forlì, and Marco Palmezzano.

It is in De Divina Proportione that the golden ratio is defined as the divine proportion. Pacioli also details the

use of the golden ratio as the mathematical definition of beauty when applied to the human face.

“The Ancients, having taken into consideration the rigorous construction of the human body, elaborated all their

works, as especially their holy temples, according to these proportions; for they found here the two principal

figures without which no project is possible: the perfection of the circle, the principle of all regular bodies, and

the equilateral square.” from De Divina Proportione (1509)

Da Vinci[edit]

Woodcut from De Divina Proportione illustrating thegolden ratio as applied to the human face.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) was an

Italian scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, and architect. Leonardo has

often been described as the archetype of the Renaissance man.[39][40]

Renowned primarily as a painter, Leonardo incorporated many mathematical concepts into his artwork despite

never having received any formal mathematical training. It was not until the 1490s that he trained under Luca

Pacioli and prepared a series of drawings for De Divina Proportione. Leonardo studied Pacioli'sSumma, from

which he copied tables of proportions and multiplication tables.[41]

Notably in Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, Leonardo’s work incorporated the concept of linear perspective. By

making all of the lines in the painting converge on a single, invisible point on the horizon, a flat painting can

appear to have depth. In creating the vanishing point, Leonardo creates the illusion that the painting is an

extension of the room itself.[42]

Golden rectangles superimposed on the Mona Lisa

In Mona Lisa, the mismatch between the left and right backgrounds creates the illusion of perspective and

depth. It is believed[by whom?] that Leonardo, as a mathematician, purposefully made this painting line up with

Golden Rectangles in this fashion in order to further the incorporation of mathematics into art. A Golden

Rectangle whose base extends from her right wrist to her left elbow and reaches the very top of her head can

be constructed. This Golden Rectangle can be then further subdivided into smaller Golden Rectangles and can

be drawn to produce the Golden Spiral. All these edges of the new rectangles come to intersect the focal points

of Mona Lisa: chin, eye, nose, and upturned corner of her mouth. The overall shape of the woman is a triangle

with her arms as the base and her head as the tip, drawing attention to her face.[43]

Leonardo’s Vitruvian Man

In The Last Supper, Leonardo sought to create a perfect harmonic balance between the placement of the

characters and the background. He did intensive studies on how the characters should be arranged at the

table. The entire painting was constructed in a tight ratio of 12:6:4:3.[44] The entire piece measures 6 by 12

units. The wall in the back is equal to 4 units. The windows are 3 units and the recession of the tapestries on

the side walls is 12:6:4:3.[45]

In Vitruvian Man, Leonardo used both image and text to express the ideas and theories of Vitruvius, a first-

century Roman architect and author of De Architectura libri X.[46] The Vitruvian ideas formed the basis of

Renaissance proportion theories in art and architecture. Various artists and architects had illustrated Vitruvius'

theory prior to Leonardo, but Leonardo's drawing differs from the previous works in that the male figure adopts

two different positions within the same image. He is simultaneously within the circle and the square; movement

and liveliness are suggested by the figure's active arms and legs.

The thin lines on his form show the significant points of the proportion scheme. These lines indicate Leonardo’s

concern with the architectural meaning of the work. Leonardo is representing the body as a building and

illustrating Renaissance theory which linked the proportions of the human body with architectural planning.

Industrial and modern times[edit]

Penrose tiles[edit]

Rhombi Penrose Tiling

Named after Roger Penrose, Penrose tiles are nonperiodic tiles generated from a simple base tile. In its

simplest form, it consists of 36- and 72-degree rhombuses, with "matching rules" forcing the rhombuses to line

up against each other only in certain patterns.[47] Penrose tiles lack translational symmetry due to its

nonperiodicity, and any finite region in a tiling appears infinitely many times in the tiling.[48]

Both visually complex and simple at the same time, Penrose tiles arise from basic mathematical principles and

can be viewed as intricately related to the golden ratio. Two notable relationships between Penrose tiles and

the Golden ratio are:

1. The ratio of thick to thin rhombuses in the infinite tile is the golden ratio 1.618.

2. The distances between repeated patterns in the tiling grow as Fibonacci numbers when the size of the

repetition increases.

Eden Project[edit]

Located near St. Austell in Southwestern England, the Eden Project has intricate greenhouses composed of

geodesic domes (called biomes). Visitors see intricate patterns of pentagons and hexagons that form

architectural structures mimicking’s patterns in nature.[49]

The Core, an education building, was inspired by Fibonacci Numbers and plant spirals. From above, the

building’s windows form a pattern resembling the golden spiral.[49]

California Polytechnic State University[edit]

Like many college campuses throughout the U.S.A. trying to inspire its students, the Engineering Plaza of

California Polytechnic State University was designed to incorporate the Fibonacci sequence and golden spiral.

Campus buildings were designed around the concept of the golden spiral which is defined at the very center by

the three core buildings. The outward spiraling arc can be seen below and extends throughout the campus.[50]

M.C. Escher[edit]

Circle Limit III by M.C. Escher (1959)

A renowned artist born in 1898 and died in 1972, M.C. Escher was known for his mathematically inspired work.

[51] Escher’s interest in tessellations,polyhedrons, shaping of space, and self-reference manifested itself in his

work throughout his career.[52] In the Alhambra Sketch, Escher showed that art can be created with polygons or

regular shapes such as triangles, squares, and hexagons. Escher used irregular polygons when tiling the plane

and often used reflections, glide reflections, and translations to obtain many more patterns. Additionally, Escher

arranged the shapes to simulate images of animals and other figures. His work can be noted in Development

1 and Cycles.

Escher’s was also interested in a specific type of polyhedron that appears many times in his work. These

polyhedrons are defined as solids that have exactly similar polygonal faces, also known as Platonic solids.

These Platonic solids, tetrahedrons, cubes, octahedrons, dodecahedrons, and icosahedrons stellations are

especially prominent in Order and Chaos and Four Regular Solids.[53] Here these stellated figures often reside

within another figure which further distorts the viewing angle and conformation of the polyhedrons and

providing a multifaceted perspective artwork.[54]Additionally, Escher worked with the shape and logic of space

in Three Intersecting Planes, Snakes, High and Low, and Waterfall.

Many of Escher's works contain impossible constructions, made using geometrical objects that cannot exist but

are pleasant to the human sight. Some of Escher's tessellation drawings were inspired by conversations with

the mathematician H. S. M. Coxeter concerning hyperbolic geometry.[55]Relationships between the works of

mathematician Kurt Gödel, artist M. C. Escher and composer Johann Sebastian Bach are explored in Gödel,

Escher, Bach, a Pulitzer Prize-winning book.

Salvador Dalí[edit]

Dalí's 1954 painting Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus)

Salvador Dalí (1904–1989) incorporated mathematical themes in several of his later works. His 1954

painting Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus) depicts a crucified figure upon the net of a hypercube. In The

Sacrament of the Last Supper (1955) Christ and his disciples are pictured inside a giantdodecahedron. Dalí's

last painting, The Swallow's Tail (1983), was part of a series inspired by René Thom's catastrophe theory.

Pablo Palazuelo[edit]

Pablo Palazuelo (1969–2007) was a contemporary Spanish painter and sculptor focused on the investigation of

form. Heavily influenced by cubism and Paul Klee, Palazuelo developed a unique style that he described as the

geometry of life and the geometry of all nature. Consisting of simple geometric shapes with detailed patterning

and coloring, Palazuelo’s work was noted as powerful, attractive, unhesitant, enigmatic, and always new. From

works such as Angular I to Automnes, Palazuelo expressed himself in geometric transformations and

translations. Over time as Carmen Bonell notes, Palazuelo’s work evolved very rapidly toward an abstract-

geometric language of increasing purity.[56]

John Robinson[edit]

John Robinson (1935–2007) was originally a sheep farmer who turned to sculpting. He began a serious

sculpting career at the age of 35. Robinson was deeply interested in astronomy and mathematical

relationships. According to Ronald Brown, Robinson’s work was extraordinary because of its proportion, line,

rhythm, finish, the resonance of the titles and the forms, and because some of the complex forms, such

as Rhythm of Life, had hardly been visualized in such an exact way. Robinson’s work from Gordian

Knot to Bands of Friendship displayed highly complex mathematical knot theory in polished bronze for the

public to see.[57]

Many mathematicians working in the field of topology and specifically with toruses see mathematical

relationships in Robinson’s sculptures.

Rhythm of Life arose from experiments with wrapping a ribbon around an inner tube and finding it returned to

itself.

Genesis evolved from an attempt at making Borromean rings-a set of three circles, no two of which link but in

which the whole structure cannot be taken apart without breaking.

Many of Robinson’s works express the theme of common humanity. In Dependent Beings, the sculpture

comprises a square that twists as it travels around the circle, giving it a boundary of two strips in contrasting

textures.[58]

The Eightfold Way[edit]

Sculptor Helaman Ferguson has made sculptures in various materials of a wide range of complex surfaces and

other topological objects.[59] His work is motivated specifically by the desire to create visual representations of

mathematical objects.

Ferguson has created a sculpture called The Eightfold Way at the Berkeley, California, Mathematical Sciences

Research Institute based on the projective special linear group PSL(2,7), a finite group of 168 elements.[60][61]

Fractal art[edit]

The Mandelbrot set, a common example of fractal art.

Main article: Fractal art

Fractal art is a form of algorithmic art created by calculating fractal objects and representing the results as still

images, animations, and media which has developed from the mid-1980s onwards.[62] The Julia

set and Mandelbrot sets are considered icons of fractal art.[63]

Platonic solids in art[edit]

The Platonic solids and other polyhedra are a recurring theme in Western art. Examples include:

A marble mosaic featuring the small stellated dodecahedron, attributed to Paolo Uccello, in the floor of

the San Marco Basilica in Venice.[20]

Leonardo da Vinci 's outstanding diagrams of regular polyhedra drawn as illustrations for Luca Pacioli's

book The Divine Proportion.[20]

A glass rhombicuboctahedron in Jacopo de Barbari's portrait of Pacioli, painted in 1495.[20]

A truncated polyhedron (and various other mathematical objects) which feature in Albrecht Dürer's

engraving Melancholia I.[20]

Salvador Dalí 's painting The Last Supper in which Christ and his disciples are pictured inside a

giant dodecahedron.