The Golden Section

This is an X-Ray picture of a nautilus shell. The form you see the shell take closely resembles that of a Golden Spiral. The word 'Golden' here refers to the Golden Section. A geometric ratio, thought to have been studied by the ancient Greeks.

Artists and Architects use the Golden Section, as it is aesthetically pleasing in it's many manifestations. Leonardo Davinci is said to have used the principles of the Golden Section when he created his famous masterwork the Mona Lisa, and Salvador Dali is said to have used the principle in several of his works.

In Victorian times, it was said Nature was the shadow of Heaven, and Art was the shadow of Nature. I am always titillated by Art that incorporates the principles of natural beauty into it's works. And there is the intellectual satisfaction of knowing abstract geometry is the basis for much of the manifest Beauty you see throughout the world, whether it be Natural, or Artistic.

When studying such principles as the Golden Section, there is also a feeling that there is an underlying order to an otherwise seemingly incidental system. That there is an underlying rationality to what on the surface would appear to be chaotic.