Symmetry 

Over the years in my Art career,  I have been asked to explain “ What is beauty” and some time told  “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”.  That question and statement always seemed inadequate and misleading.

It connotes to me that there is no eternal or universal beauty.  If everything is beautiful, nothing is beautiful. 

Several readers contacted me and I need to make a correction regarding context..

The two questions referred to above were not a comment on Universal or current Societal beauty. My essay only referred beauty in relation to the creation of art past and present. Thanks everyone.

Recently, I watched  a video with Michio Kaku, an astrophysicist, on the universe.  In his interview, he talked about the universe with all its secrets;  and the idea of its “symmetry”.  On hearing that I had an eponymous moment.

As an artist I know about symmetry. I use in my work all the time.

Symmetry is everywhere. It is all around us. In the human body, in animals earthly and aquatic. Galaxies form in a symmetric form.  It is in plant construction. I mean everywhere. If you don’t know this, read about The Golden Ratio or The Fibonacci numbers. Or the Theory of Thirds.

Watching Prof. Kaku I formed an answer to the question and which I will use from here on.

If someone asks you ‘What is beauty’? or  ‘ that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, ask them- 

“ Are you familiar with the concept of  “symmetry”? If not, they are blind to what is actually beautiful. 

There is a number that permeates though time, life and the Universe. It is a number that is used in science, mathematics, music and of course Art. It is a number that constitutes the physical structure of most truly beautiful things on earth. It is the true natural beauty of everything. 

Musicians and artists specifically should be versed in this number. I am positive the masters of old knew of it because it is visible in their works.  Good artists today are acquainted with it. It is the basis of all things natural.  It is in the heavens and here on earth.  It is 1.618 ( it is longer but for our purposes, it is referred this way) 

Or the Golden ratio.

You may ask, How does a number relate to art and beauty? If you are an artist today and are not familiar with this number and how to use it,  your work may suffer and lack “ symmetry”. Thus lack true beauty. 

The golden ratio was called the extreme and mean ratio and the divine proportion and also goes by several other names.Mathematicians have studied the golden ratio's properties .

The golden ratio has been used to analyze the proportions of natural objects and artificial systems such as financial markets.

The golden ratio appears in copious patterns of nature. The spiral arrangement of leaves. And other parts of vegetation.

Some 20th artists have proportioned their works to approximate the golden ratio, believing it to be aesthetically pleasing.  These uses often appear in the form of a golden rectangle.

As an artist I have incorporated this ratio in my own work. You will see in the works of Michelangelo, DaVinci, Velazquez,  Caravaggio, Raphael and many many other master painters. 

We look at it everyday. We hear it in our music, It informs our mathematics, finances, markets. It makes up our human bodies.  And it is basically invisible to most.

What is beauty?  Beauty embodies and encompasses what is symmetrical and therefore pleasing to our eyes, our ears, our senses.  To most it is not apparent.  But from the moment you are informed of it, you will see it. It becomes blatantly visible once you are told. Once you see it, you cannot unsee it. 

In art, 1.618 is used primarily in composition. Composing an image on paper or a canvas demands you know the Golden ratio.  Or your work will lack balance and of course, symmetry. 

So what! You may ask? Why does it matter where I place objects or forms on my canvas?  I put them wherever I can fit them. Wherever I like?

The answer to this question and to what is beauty lies in the fact that humans seek order in life. In everyday dealings. In the way we live. It is a psychological underpinning as we go through life. When order and balance is missing , our lives seem chaotic. Our thinking is scatological. We can not get things done. Our lives are disorganized.  

Order, balance and symmetry are not something detached from us. It is a way of human functioning. A way to managing our life. In art, when a painting is out of balance, the view senses it. They may not know why, but they don’t like the art they see. If out of balance, disorganized, internally it mimics the worse parts of their lives. The unbalanced side. They invariably don’t buy it. 

There is a reason we still admire and never tire of looking at the great masters and venerate their work.  Next time you look at great art, either live or in books, look, you will see the number 1.618 everywhere.

I guarantee it.

Rickrotantefineart.com