The ancient Egyptians were the first to use mathematics in art. It seems almost certain that they ascribed magical properties to the golden section ... and used [it] in the design of their great pyramids.

The golden ratio was known to the ancient Greeks, who ascribed to it mystical and religious meaning and called it the divine proportion. The Greeks used the golden ratio as a benchmark for proportion and scale in art and architecture. The famous Greek sculptor Phidias consistently used the golden ratio in the proportions for his sculptures, as well as in his design of the Parthenon, perhaps the best-known building of ancient Greece.

During the Renaissance, famous artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Botticelli knew about the Golden ratio and used it in their paintings.

Among the great houses of the Renaissance is Palladio's Villa Emo at Fanzolo in Northern Italy ...Palladio adopted a number of classical rules of building recorded in the ten books of De architectura by the Latin theorist Vitruvius, well known for applying mathematical proportion to a building's measures and equally adept at achieving harmony in more pragmatic and natural ways. ... Golden Mean proportions also appear in the Villa Emo, whose measured drawings suggest that Palladio employed mathematical proportions through a consistent application of geometric techniques. The Golden Ratio prevails throughout the elevation and plan, appearing repeatedly in the building's measures, from the overall proportions of the central block to the placement of individual windows and doors.

That Seurat's (1859-1891) now famous canvases ( Dimanche d'ete a la Grande Jatte, Parade, Le Cirque, et cetera) owe their quasi-hypnotic charm and power to a rigorous geometrical technique of composition...rather to his "pointillist" treatment of pigments, is generally admitted; ...the use of the Golden Section was Seurat's master trump or trick. ...Seurat...attacked every canvas by the Golden Section.

[A Golden Rectangle] appears to afford a greater measure of satisfaction to a majority of people than do rectangles of different proportions. This was realized by the ancient Greeks, whose architecture incorporates features bearing witness to it. In recent times their observation has found empirical support in the experiments of the German psychologist Gustav Fechner .... Why this particular rectangle...is preferred even to the square, or to the double square or to any other, is not understood. And when a matter is not understood; when, as in this case, no conceivable grounds for the preference are apparent; when a rational explanation is not even in sight; then scepticism concerning the facts arises. Accordingly, it is not surprising that many writers have dismissed the whole subject as nonsense. Nevertheless, it is difficult to believe that the alleged superiority of the golden rectangle, incorporated in the ancient art, endorsed by Kepler who wrote about "the divine proportion", and supported as it is by many modern experiments, is entirely without substance.

Abstractionist Piet Mondrian was interested in the "destruction of volume", as illustrated in his Place de la Concorde (1938-1943). Hidden in Mondrian's work are at least three Golden Rectangles.

The golden ratio ... has captured the popular imagination and is discussed in many books and articles. Generally, its mathematical properties are correctly stated, but much of what is presented about it in art, architecture, literature, and aesthetics is false or seriously misleading. Unfortunately, these statements about the golden ratio have achieved the status of common knowledge and are widely repeated. Even current high school geometry books ... make many incorrect statements about the golden ratio.

It would take a large book to document all the misinformation about the golden ratio ...