The Parthenon of Classical Greece

The Parthenon, which stands in Greece, was a temple built during the Doric Order of Classical Greece and was dedicated to Greece’s protector, the goddess Athena. It is known today as a “perfect” geometric masterpiece and the best representation of using a mathematical approach to achieve perfect symmetry by applying a certain ratio known as the Golden Section, Golden Ratio, Golden Mean, or Divine Proportions. The ratio, attributed to Pythagoras who also created the Pythagorean Theorem, is defined by the number Phi (1.618033988749895….. ), when the width is divided by the length of a structure (The Golden Section). This ratio has had a significant impact on modern day art, such as Piet Mondrian who used the Golden Ration to create Minimalistic art pieces that are the most pleasing to the human eye, such as “Broadway Boogie Woogie” (Obara).

Classical Greece was a time of philosophies, artistic and scientific discoveries, and politics ( Classical Greece). It was a time when people shifted from irrational beliefs, such as belief in gods, to more rational ideas that pertained to the natural world. Therefore, the creation of the Parthenon is good representation of shift toward perfecting the Greeks’ lives and their knowledge of the world. Perfect ratios and geometric shapes reflect the Greeks’ attempt to make sense of the world by using very linear approaches, such as the scientific method, in art, science and math. Classical Greek philosophers such as Plato believed that if something exists, one should be able to see it or feel it. In other words, one could not conceive something that they could not see or feel. This idea reflects the Greek’s attempt to solve life’s mysteries like a jigsaw puzzle where each piece fits in perfectly.

The Discus Thrower

The Discus Thrower, or Disco bolus, is a sculpture attributed the sculptor Myron. In the sculpture, the male form is depicted as perfect because the sets of muscles work harmoniously together to create an athletic, but not over-developed body(The British Museum). Additionally, his facial expression is serene thus indicating that despite the difficulty of the task at hand and the discomfort experienced in his wound-up position of discus throwing, the athlete remains calm and ready(Museum). Lastly, not only does the body exhibit symmetry, but more importantly, the sculpture creates a sense of harmony that is pleasing to the human eye because the tip of the discus to the foot of the athlete forms a symmetrical semi-circle--yet another illustration of perfection because circular shapes were seen as most perfect because they represent continuity.

While the ideal of the perfect female form has changed throughout history and remains a controversial topic, the ideal male form has remained consistent from what the Greeks first established to be perfect. In modern day media, consumers are exposed to men who are strong and athletic, but not over the top body builders. Likewise, they are not lanky and weak.


Perhaps the reason for the consistency of the ideal male figure is that history has many depictions of Adam, the “father of mankind”, as a strong, athletic, and handsome male such as Michelangelo’s “Creation of Adam”. However, there is no concrete or pervasive image of Eve, which has left her image subject to interpretation. Consequently, female beauty is left in the eye of its beholder.

The Sistine Chapel “Creation of Adam” (1511)

“The Creation of Adam,” by Michelangelo is part of a series of paintings that were painted onto the roof of the Sistine Chapel in 1511. Michelangelo was commissioned to paint 12,000 square feet by the Pope of Rome. This specific portion of the ceiling illustrates the Biblical story of the birth of Adam from the Book of Genesis. Famous painters before Michelangelo have painted the same picture of a naked Adam sparked to life by the magical touch of God however no one has come close to portraying the “greatness of the mystery of creation with such simplicity and force” (Phaidon).
An anatomical theory from The Journal of the American Medical Association states that God and the angels behind him form the shape of the human brain which can be seen as God is part of Adam’s imagination and only exists in his mind. Furthermore, the green cloth hanging below God can be seen as a freshly cut umbilical cord(Wikipedia, The Creation of Adam). The umbilical cord can be seen as a symbol of the birth of Adam, or the birth human kind.

“God's right arm is outstretched to impart the spark of life from his own finger into that of Adam, whose left arm is extended in a pose mirroring God's, a reminder that man is created in the image and likeness of God (Gen 1:26)”(Wikipedia, The Creation of Adam). At the time the project was commissioned, the church was the most powerful institution in the world and the vastness of the Sistine Chapel served as a constant reminder of the power of religion. An important point is that God is placed higher than Adam because God is seen as the most perfect being and Adam shows his longing to be perfect and for closeness to God by the direction of his eyes and arm which are reaching towards God. Because Adam is the “father of human kind”, paintings such as this one, give people the hope of striving towards godliness. In essence, by having a deep understand of religion and God, one is coming close to achieving God’s perfection.(Museum)

Broadway Boogie Woogie (1943)

Piet Mondrian, known as “the father of geometric abstraction,” was a Dutch painter who was a key figure during the 20th century’s revolution in Modern Art. Mondrian fled war-torn Europe to New York where he was inspired by the life of the city and jazz, specifically the Boogie Woogie. In Piet Mondrian’s pieces, he only uses primary colors and the grayscale along with simple shapes like lines and squares. This is a type of art known as minimalism where the unnecessary is extracted from the painting so that it is left to its purest or most perfect state. Minimalism was a reaction to the industrialization and materialism that pervaded the Western World before World War II. Piet Mondrian participated in a specific Minimalism movement known as De Stijl or Dutch for “The Style”.

In Piet Mondrian’s “Broadway Boogie Woogie”, the traditional perception of a busy city has been shredded down to the most basic colors, blue red and yellow along with black and grays. The yellow square in the painting depicts the taxicabs of the city. The contrast of the yellow and gray is the same therefore your eyes cannot focus on the two colors at once. This gives the painting an overall “jittery motion” making the painting come alive. Additionally, the painting is not only very linear but more importantly, the “streets” are arranged either perpendicular or parallel to each other. Mondrian’s impact on the Minimalism movement may have influenced writers such as Antoine de Saint- Exupery who coined the idea that perfection is achieved when nothing bad can be taken away. After almost 70 years of the movement, modern day society continues to implement the idea that perfection is found in simplicity. Evidence of this can be found in furniture such as Bauhaus and Ikea, companies that use simple shapes and materials to change the concept of luxury from lavish to simple(PIet Mondrian Archive).

Cick HERE to hear what an expert has to say about "Broadway Boogie Woogie".

Staatliches Bauhaus

Known simply as Bauhaus, this school of design located in Germany ran from 1913 to 1933(Wikipedia, Bauhaus). Creator, Walter Gropius founded the school on the principles that art should be able to harmoniously work together for utility and beauty(Wikipedia, Bauhaus). The Bauhaus style was derived from German modernism, an idea similar to the Minimalism of Mondrian’s art seen in his “Broadway Boogie Woogie”. The Bauhaus concept is known for its absence of ornamentation and its merging of function to design. The Bauhaus was founded at a time when Germany shifted from emotional Expressionism to the more practical New Objectivity(Wikipedia, Bauhaus).

The Barcelona chair, shown above, retains the Greek notion of the Golden ratio with the chair’s back perpendicular to the chair’s seat. To add to the fluidity of the piece, the legs of the chair are semi circular, similar to the line that is seen in the sculpture of the Discus Thrower.

The Bauhaus name has been used by modern day furniture, architectural, and design companies to represent the school’s original mission that radically simplified forms are more easily produced without compromising individual artistic spirit(Wikipedia, Bauhaus). The simplicity of the Bauhaus style is synonymous with perfection.

Bibliography

Museum, The British. The Discus Thrower. 27 April 2011http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/gr/d/discus-thrower_discobolus.aspx
Obara, Samuel. Golden Ratio in Art and Architecture. 10 May 2011

Phaidon. The Story of Art. New York: Phaidon Press Inc., 1995.http://jwilson.coe.uga.edu/EMT668/EMAT6680.2000/Obara/Emat6690/Golden%20Ratio/golden.html
PIet Mondrian Archive. 2005. 26 April 2011 .http://www.pietmondrian.org/piet-mondrian.php
The Golden Section. 1997-2010. 26 April 2011 .http://goldennumber.net/goldsect.htm
The Parthenon. 2003-2011. 25 April 2011 .http://www.ancient-greece.org/architecture/parthenon.html
Wikipedia. Bauhaus. 25 April 2011. 27 April 2011 .http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauhaus
—. Classical Greece. 25 April 2011. 26 April 2011 .http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_Greece
—. Parthenon. 25 April 2011 .http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenon
—. The Creation of Adam. 2011. 25 April 2011 .http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Creation_of_Adam