| In a 1904 letter to Emile Bernard, Paul Cézanne wrote "everything in nature is modeled according to the sphere, the cone, and the cylinder. You have to learn to paint with reference to these simple shapes; then you can do anything." |
| In contrast, in The Fractal Geometry of Nature, Benoit Mandelbrot takes a different point of view: "Clouds are not spheres, mountains are not cones, coastlines are not circles, and bark is not smooth, nor does lightning travel in a straight line." |
| To the extent that the arts are informed by nature, we should not be surprised to find fractal aspects in the visual arts. The extent of this presence, much of it largely unconscious, may be a surprise. Here is a sample of what we have collected so far. |