Could the perception of beauty be preprogrammed into our brains? According to the ancient Greek mathematician Euclid, the golden ratio is that number. It is a number which refers to two quantities where the ratio of the smaller to the larger is equal to ratio of the larger to the sum of both. Also known as the divine number, the golden ratio approximates to 1.618 and has been ingrained in architectural design, sculpting, and painting for millennia.
Structures such as Stonehenge, the Taj Mahal, the Notre-Dame Cathedral, and even the Great Pyramids have elements that closely follow the golden ratio. It is actually interesting: two of these structures (Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids) were constructed well before Euclid discovered the golden ratio. This, along with the fact that some of these structures are considered wonders of the world, supports the idea that there is possibly a definition of beauty that is naturally ingrained in us from birth. Similarly, a study of human faces by The University of Toronto created a Thurstonian scaling model to measure attractiveness for each one of many original faces. Then, they plotted the attractiveness score by the length or width ratio for each face and fit a function to the data by which they were able to identify optimal ratios for individual beauty. Their study reveals that there is a preference – a standard for beauty – that deviated only a bit from the actual golden ratio. A reason for this slight difference could be that only Caucasian female faces were used in this study. In fact, researchers believe that facial attractiveness stems from a predisposed biological process of averaging all the faces that we see to form an ideal ratio of facial features.
Similar to its appearance in architecture, the golden ratio can be seen in famous works of art. Leonardo da Vinci’s many works are said to have included this divine number to create unparalleled beauty. As a mathematician, it is believed that he tried to purposefully incorporate this ratio in the Mona Lisa, The Vitruvian Man, and The Last Supper. An Italian scientist, Cinzia Di Dio, conducted an experiment where he showed pieces of art that incorporated the golden ratio in both distorted and original versions. When shown the original pieces, areas of the brain associated with emotional memories lit up. When showed the distorted images, these parts of the brain ceased all activity.
Many people don’t realize it, but the golden ratio has a huge impact on our world today. It may just be a number and ratio, but, on a larger scale, it’s part of the lens through which we view the world. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but undoubtedly, through scientific research, the golden ratio is indeed the golden standard for beauty and appearance for all types of art.
Han Yu says
Indeed, fascinating. Though there are voices now that some “examples” of the use of golden ratio in the works of art might actually be paintings with a “golden ratio” grid overlaid but there is no actual connections between the two, I found that all these evidences you used are still firmly convincing, in other words, with exact connection and application of this Golden Standard. It is still hard to tell, at sometimes, that if we could really intuitively create something so beautiful even if we know nothing about the standard principles behind it. Take the Stonehenge for example, I still think that the folks who created it might have already gained some experience, if not total understanding, that this ratio has to do with visual pleasure or “correctness”. You are making a great point though, that makes me re-consider what I have always believed in.
knd5174 says
I find it very interesting that so many of the paintings I’ve always admired relied not on romantic inspiration but on mathematical equations. I have noticed in art history and architecture classes that nearly all works hailed as beautiful follow some sort of pattern and adhere to symmetry. Your point about optimal ratios being used before the discovery of the “divine number” is very interesting and suggests that there is a standard of beauty ingrained in humans.