Symmetrical

About

Symmetry creates immediate order. In bilateral symmetry the two sides of an axis mirror each other; in radial symmetry, elements repeat around a centre, as in a rose window or a mandala. Buildings meant to impress have favoured it: the Taj Mahal, largely complete by the 1650s, aligns tomb, minarets, water channels and gardens on one central line, and Andrea Palladio's Villa Rotonda (begun 1567) repeats the same porticoed front on all four sides.

In painting, symmetry often marks the sacred. Italian altarpieces place the Virgin or Christ on the central axis with saints balanced either side, as in Raphael's Sistine Madonna (about 1512). Persian carpets arrange medallions and borders about two axes. Hermann Rorschach turned accidental symmetry into a psychological test with his inkblots of 1921, and Minnie Evans's drawings bloom outward in mirrored patterns. Look for the axis and for small deviations that keep a design alive.