Josef Albers, Red Study, 1939 (ca.) and the Golden Rectangle

Successive Golden Rectangles dividing a Golden Rectangle into squares (Red Study, 1939 by Josef Albers).

  

Josef Albers (1888 - 1976) was a German-born American artist (geometric abstraction) and educator whose work, both in Europe and in the United States, formed the basis of some of the most influential and far-reaching art education programs of the 20th century.

Red Study, 1939 (ca.). Oil on blotting paper. JAAF: 1976.2.257 34.765 x 28.575 cm (13.687 x 11.25 inches). Source: The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation.

Geometric abstract art is a form of abstract art based on the use of geometric forms sometimes, though not always, placed in non-illusionistic space and combined into non-objective (non-representational) compositions.


A golden rectangle is a rectangle whose side lengths are in the golden ratio, one-to-phi, that is, approximately 1:1.618. A distinctive feature of this shape is that when a square section is removed, the remainder is another golden rectangle, that is, with the same proportions as the first. Square removal can be repeated infinitely, which leads to an approximation of the golden or Fibonacci spiral.