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The complex geometry of Islamic design - Eric Broug

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In Islamic culture, geometric design is everywhere: you can find it in mosques, madrasas, palaces, and private homes. And despite the remarkable complexity of these designs, they can be created with just a compass to draw circles and a ruler to make lines within them. Eric Broug covers the basics of geometric Islamic design.

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Meet The Creators

  • Educator Eric Broug
  • Director Jeremiah Dickey
  • Animator Peyton Skyler
  • Script Editor Emma Bryce
  • Narrator Addison Anderson
All Open Discussions
Avatar for Jan Beck
Lesson in progress

Causes of abstraction in Islamic art?

I was once told that islamic law does not permit artistic representations of religious motives. Any such attempt would be considered blasphemic. Thus artists who still had the desire to express themselves would use complex geometry instead. Is there anything to it? I always found the difference to christian art striking (thinking of the realism of Da Vinci or Michelangelo for example).

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Avatar for Kaan Uzdoğan
Lesson in progress

Drawings, pictures or sculptures of livings is something Islamic artists (mostly Sunni artists I would say) refrain to use. Islam has emerged in the pagan Arab society which does make use of lots of sculptures and drawings of gods. This should be one of the main reasons why Islamic art is cautious about those kinds of representations.

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