125_Math and Art:Find the Connection

Math and Art:
Find the
Connection
©2012 M.B. Pardington


What
“math”
can you
find
in visual
arts?


Do you see angles?


Do you see angles?


Do you see triangles?


Do you see triangles?

Monet Painting in His Garden at Argenteuil, 1873 by Pierre-Auguste Renoir


Do you see other shapes?

Do you
see
other
shapes
?

The Bedroom (1889),
by Van Gogh

rectangl
e
rectangl
e
rectangl
e
ov
al

rectangl
e


Do you see the golden
rectangle?


Do you see the golden
rectangle?

Do you see tessellations?
Tessellations are regular patterns of shapes fitting snugly together
without gaps or overlaps. Where the angles of the shapes meet, they
collectively equal 360°.


Do you see tessellations?

Metamorphosis II by M. C. Escher


Do you see numbers?
Look for Arabic Numbers:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
Look for Roman Numerals:

I II III IV V VI
IX X XI XII XIII
XVI XVII XVIII
L C D

VII VIII
XIV XV
XIX XX
M


Do you
see

numbers
?

Melencolia I,
by Albrecht Durer


Do you see symmetry?

An object has symmetry if
it can be divided in half to
form its reflection.


Do you see symmetry?

Sun by Tony Hunt


Do you see parallel lines?

Parallel lines are lines
that are always the same
distance from each other.
They never “cross” or


Do you see parallel lines?

Depiction by John Trumbull of Washington resigning his

commission as Commander-in-Chief


Do you see perpendicular
lines?

90°

90°

Perpendicular lines form
two 90° angles where the two
line segments or lines meet.


Do you see perpendicular
lines?

Composition With Yellow, Red, Black, Blue, and Grey, by Piet Mondrian


Do you see fractions or
proportions?1
¾

½

¼

0

Do you see fractions or
proportions?
1

½


What is the prominent color?
What is the ratio of colors that
make up this color?

To get this orange, mix 3
parts red to 1 part yellow, or
Red + Yellow 3:1


What is a prominent color in this
painting? What’s the ratio for
making this color?

GREEN
8 yellow to 11 blue
Yellow Blue 8:11

Irises, by Vincent Van Gogh (1889)


Do you see fractals?

“With computers, we can generate beautiful art from complex
numbers. These designs, some of which you can see on this
page, are called fractals.

               
Fractals are produced using an iteration process. This is where
we start with a number and then feed it into a formula. We get a
result and feed this result back into the formula, getting another
result. And so on and so on...
Fractals start with a complex number. Each complex number
produced gives a value for each pixel on the screen. The higher
the number of iterations, the better the quality of the image.”
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