Maths and Art

“The Universe is written in the language of mathematics, and its characters are triangles, circles, and other geometric figures”

GALILEO

There are many geometrical links between mathematics and art. You can explore a certain artist or style of painting with your students and help them in creating their own art pieces or posters. Find inspiration in the images and links below.

Tessellations: Escher's Tessellated Fish

Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972) was one of the world’s most prolific graphic artists, famous for his drawings of tessellated patterns. Tessellations are two-dimensional patterns of interlocking shapes arranged to fill a plane without any gaps or overlaps. They are a type of mathematically-inspired pattern. Tessellations are a good way to introduce maths concepts to kids through a fun art and craft activity.
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Art of Circles workshop

This workshop for kids is a maths-meets-art curriculum lesson, with hands-on projects that are beautiful, fun and engaging children from both a visual, arts perspective, and a mathematical one.
Go to Art of Circles Workshop

The Golden Ratio

Shown above is the The Parthenon in Athens. Built by the ancient Greeks between 447 and 438 BC, is thought by many to illustrate the design application of the Golden Ratio. The Golden Ratio was believed by the Greeks to have certain aesthetic properties which link to nature. It has been used by artists and architects for generations.

Go to the Golden Ratio

Fibonacci Sequence

A Fibonacci Sequence is the series of integers 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, … etc. Each number in the sequence is found by adding up the two numbers before it, e.g. 2 is found by adding the two numbers before it (1+1), 3 is found by adding 1 + 2, 5 is 2 + 3 and so on. It is closely related to the Golden Ratio and can be found in various places in nature – sea shells, flower petals and leaves. It is this aesthetic property that makes it useful in the composition of artistic works. View this Fibonacci Sequence lesson plan.
Go to Fibonacci Sequence