On the "Golden Section"

The "golden section" (φ′ ≅ 0.618…) is a proportion that in various geometric, arithmetic, biological, and artistic contexts has fascinated, for 2,600 years, some of the finest minds in European philosophy, sciences, and the arts. It has been called "divine" and the epitome of beauty. An overview of the author's large-scale experimental and archival investigations (1995-2001) of the significance of φ′ in the structure and composition of Western paintings is presented in this article. The main conclusions are: (a) the use of the golden section in Western art is elusive and subtle, but detectable, and its purpose often seems to be the introduction of an optimal degree of tension; (b) there appears to be a marked non-linearity and contextuality of its application; and (c) one of the implications of such highly contextual treatment of the golden section in Western art is that the differences between Western and some non-Western aesthetic ideals—notably Far-Eastern—may have been needlessly exaggerated in numerous accounts.