Role of Formal Aesthetic Education in the Relationship between Golden Proportion and Perception of the Beauty of Artistic Stimuli

Abstract

The golden ratio is defined as an uncanny relationship between numbers and beauty that roots in a two millennian tradition. Two experiments evaluated the relationship between formal aesthetic education and the evaluation of beautifulness of artistic golden ratio stimuli by comparing performance of two groups of university students: Fine Arts students, and students without formal training in art. In Experiment 1, both groups of participants had to choose between pairs of black and white adaptations of Mondrian paintings modified to fit either the golden or the 1/6 proportion. Both groups preferentially chose golden ratio stimuli as more beautiful than 1/6 stimuli, with such preference being significantly greater in Fine Arts students. When the comparison was conducted between golden ratio and symmetrical stimuli (1/2 proportion stimuli) in Experiment 2, Fine Arts students clearly chose the golden ratio stimuli as the most beautiful one, while no differences were found in university students without formal art education. Specific art education seems to favor perception of beauty based in golden ratio, as suggested by traditional literature on perception of beauty, though it is also possible that Fine Arts education is chosen by students that are born with a greater aesthetic sensitivity.N