82 | EYEWORLD | SEPTEMBER 2019
O
UTSIDE THE OR
Contact
information
deLuise: vdeluisemd@gmail.com
by Vincent deLuise, MD
I
n the first contribution to this series on art
and perception, I've chosen the theme of
symmetry. Symmetry surrounds us. It is a
basic aspect of nature and is also a funda-
mental principle of beauty as explored and
articulated by cognitive neuroscientists.
1
Parts of the
eye itself have sym-
metry: The cornea
and iris display radial
symmetry (symme-
try around an axis).
Humans and most
vertebrates display
bilateral symmetry,
whereas a number of
invertebrates display
radial symmetry.
I have selected a
biological illustration
to demonstrate this
aspect of beauty,
linking science and
art through sight
and perception. The
image shown is the
illustration "Actini-
ae" by the German
biologist, natural-
ist, physician, and
artist Ernst Haeckel
(1834–1919) in his
monumental 1904
treatise Kunstformen
der Natur (Art Forms
of Nature).
It depicts radial
symmetry within
many species of
sea anemone (class
Anthozoa, order
Actiniaria). Haeckel
named thousands of
species of animals
and plants, supported
the evolutionary views
of Charles Darwin, coined
the terms ecology, phylum, and
Reference
1. Ramachandran VS, Hirstein W.
The science of art: a neurological
theory of aesthetic experience.
J Consciousness Studies.
1999;6:15–51.
EYE ON ART
Symmetry
Protista, and was the author of the recapitula-
tion theory that "the ontogeny recapitulates the
phylogeny."
Throughout Haeckel's book, his keen visual
perception and brilliant observations of nature
are captured in spectacular lithographs.
"Actiniae"
Source: Wikimedia Commons
In this new column
"Eye on Art,"
Vincent deLuise,
MD, explores the
intersection of
medicine and art.
