Leonardo da Vinci's use of phi in his paintings exemplifies this principle. Phi is known by many names including the Golden Ratio, the Divine Proportion, the Golden Mean, and Mean of Phidias. It is represented by the equation:?=(1+?5)/2 or the irrational number 1.6180339887....
Phi In Art
The use of phi when painting the human form or many natural elements helps the artist to establish the most visually appealing proportions for the contents of the painting. In figurative painting phi is used to create the correct balance between elements of the face, the body and the composition to canvas. The Golden Ratio is evident in many areas of the human body including the ear canal, the separation between the between the pupils as compared with the separation between the eyebrows, the spacing between the mouth, chin, nose and forehead, the ratio between the legs and the torso and the segmentation of the fingers. Although few humans display these exact proportions extensive research by the Marquardt Beauty Analysis has found that the closer a person's physical appearance aligns to the Golden Ratio the more beautiful he/she is considered to be.
The Use of Phi in Painting