Lumen Naturae

Visions of the Abstract in Art and Mathematics

Matilde Marcolli (Professor, California Institute of Technology)

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Hardback

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English

MIT Press
26 May 2020

Art & design styles: Postmodernism; Mathematical physics

Series: The MIT Press

Exploring common themes in modern art, mathematics, and science, including the concept of space, the notion of randomness, and the shape of the cosmos.

This is a book about art-and a book about mathematics and physics. In Lumen Naturae (the title refers to a purely immanent, non-supernatural form of enlightenment), mathematical physicist Matilde Marcolli explores common themes in modern art and modern science-the concept of space, the notion of randomness, the shape of the cosmos, and other puzzles of the universe-while mapping convergences with the work of such artists as Paul Cezanne, Mark Rothko, Sol LeWitt, and Lee Krasner. Her account, focusing on questions she has investigated in her own scientific work, is illustrated by more than two hundred color images of artworks by modern and contemporary artists.

Thus Marcolli finds in still life paintings broad and deep philosophical reflections on space and time, and connects notions of space in mathematics to works by Paul Klee, Salvador Dali, and others. She considers the relation of entropy and art and how notions of entropy have been expressed by such artists as Hans Arp and Fernand Leger; and traces the evolution of randomness as a mode of artistic expression. She analyzes the relation between graphical illustration and scientific text, and offers her own watercolor-decorated mathematical notebooks. Throughout, she balances discussions of science with explorations of art, using one to inform the other. (She employs some formal notation, which can easily be skipped by general readers.) Marcolli is not simply explaining art to scientists and science to artists; she charts unexpected interdependencies that illuminate the universe.

By: Matilde Marcolli (Professor California Institute of Technology)
Imprint: MIT Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 25mm
ISBN: 9780262043908
ISBN 10: 0262043904
Series: The MIT Press
Pages: 392
Publication Date: 26 May 2020
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Matilde Marcolli is a mathematical physicist who holds positions at Caltech, the University of Toronto, and the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario. She is the recipient of the Sofia Kovalevskaya Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.