Flagellation of Christ

(Piero della Francesca, 1453, National Gallery of Marche, Urbino)

The painting is set up three-dimensionally according to very accurate geometric-mathematical laws, which testify to Piero della Francesca's interest in the golden section. Particularly evident is the use of the golden ratio in proportioning two halves of the painting: the one in the foreground and that of the place where Christ was scourged (the praetorium):

Birth of Venus

(Sandro Botticelli, 1485, Uffizi Gallery, Florence)

Sandro Botticelli built the female figures according to the classical golden proportions. An example is represented by the painting "Birth of Venus":

1. Annunciation

(Leonardo da Vinci, about 1472 - 1475, Uffizi Gallery, Florence)

2. Virgin of the Rocks

(Leonardo da Vinci, 1483 - 1486, Louvre Museum, Paris)

3. Last Supper

(Leonardo da Vinci, wall painting, 1494 - 1498, Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan)

4. Gioconda

(Leonardo da Vinci, 1503 - 1506, Louvre Museum, Paris)

5. Study for the head of Leda

(Leonardo da Vinci, 1503 - 1510)

1. Several parts of this painting are in golden ratio:

2. The characteristic of this painting is the ratio between the height H and the width l, which approximates the golden number φ ~ 1.618...:

3. This representation seems to be based precisely on the golden rectangle, identifiable in many of its parts:

4. In-depth studies regarding the portrait of the Mona Lisa show the presence of numerous references to the golden ratio. In fact, it seems that the Mona Lisa's face is articulated in an elegant succession of golden rectangles:

Further investigations relating to this representation have made it possible to identify the golden ratio also in the entire arrangement of the painting and in the area that goes from the Mona Lisa's neck to the upper part of the hands and in that part which goes from the neckline of the dress to the lower part of the hands.

Ultimately, it can be said that the features of the Mona Lisa's face, as well as the rest of the body, are arranged in such a way as to follow the trend of a golden spiral, making the whole figure harmonious and perfect:

5. In this precious drawing, of which the original painting is missing, Leda's hair seems to be arranged in an "Spira mirabilis", which gathers it on the sides of the head:

Holy Family

(Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1505 - 1507, Uffizi Gallery, Florence)

The painting, also known as "Tondo Doni", presents the main figures inserted in a pentagram:

Gavari crucifixion

(Raffaello Sanzio, 1502 - 1503, National Gallery, London)

In this representation the characters are arranged along the lines of a pentagram and a golden triangle:

The Great Wave off Kanagawa

(Katsushika Hokusai, about 1830 – 1831, copy kept at the United States Library of Congress, several copies are kept in various museums)

This woodcut is the first work in the landscape series of prints entitled "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji". The woodcut represents one of the best known images in the world, in which the “golden rule” is evident:

1. Oiran (Nach Kesaï Eisen)

(Vincent van Gogh, 1887, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam)

2. The starry night

(Vincent van Gogh, 1889, Museum of Modern Art, New York)

Vincent van Gogh uses the spiral geometric shape in the tail of the geisha's dress and in the extraordinary representation of the starry sky, where the logarithmic spiral suggests the movement of the entire cosmos:

1. Baigneurs in Asnières

(Georges-Pierre Seurat, 1884, National Gallery, London)

2. The Parade du cirque

(Georges-Pierre Seurat, 1888, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)

It is thought that Georges Seurat has been the first artist to adopt, consciously, the golden ratio in his paintings. His intent was to seek a "scientific beauty" through the balanced composition of the image, which he obtained by combining dots of different colors. The artist applied the colors after dividing the canvas and the scene into boxes where the golden proportions were perfectly respected:

1.

2.

Frieze of Palazzo Stoclet

(Mosaic created by Gustav Klimt between 1905 and 1909 for the Stoclet Palace, in Brussels – his preparatory cartoons are on display at the Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna)

The spiral shape appears frequently in Gustav Klimt's representations. An example is given by the “Frieze of Palazzo Stoclet”, whose central motif is the Tree of Life; on the left side of the representation a woman symbolizes Waiting, while on the right side two figures are in a loving Embrace:

Composition with gray and ocher

(Piet Mondrian, 1918, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), Houston)

The whole representation is based on the combination of golden squares and rectangles:

Suprematist composition

(Kazimir Severinovič Malevich, 1915, Fondation Beyeler, Riehen, near Basel, Switzerland)

In this work the golden proportion is present:

Shells and starfish

(Maurits Cornelis Escher, 1941, Escher in Het Paleis, Den Haag, The Netherlands)

The composition is structured on a rotational symmetry of a pentagonal module with a golden triangle in the centre:

Last Supper

(Salvador Dali', 1955, National Gallery of Art, Washington)

In this representation the scene is enclosed in a golden rectangle and it is dominated by a large dodecahedron, which recalls the golden section with its pentagonal faces: