At the turn of the last century, new discoveries in science and math led to an explosion of theories, inventions, concepts, and higher mathematics. Prominent among these concepts was the Fourth Dimension, a focus of higher mathematics and physics in the era. Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity depended on a fourth dimension – space/time. The Fourth Dimension is defined as:

  1. a dimension in addition to length, breadth, and depth

specifically a coordinate in addition to three rectangular coordinates especially when interpreted as the time coordinate in a space-time continuum

2 something outside the range of ordinary experience

Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, s.v. “fourth dimension,” accessed July 21, 2024, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fourth%20dimension.

Artists look for inspiration in may places, and scientific theory is one of those places. Technical artists attempted to draw geometric objects in four dimensions.

By Esprit Jouffret – https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924059156087&view=1up&seq=9, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3519341

Early CubistsSurrealistsFuturists, and abstract artists took ideas from higher-dimensional mathematics and used them to radically advance their work.1

Imagine Picasso, Gleizes, Metzinger, and Dalí creating art that exists not only on paper and canvas, but in time and space, challenging the viewer to reach beyond. The Dimensionism: Modern Art in the Age of Einstein exhibition at the Berkeley Art Museum highlighted in influence of science on modern art. More of the same exhibit can be viewed at the Amherst College website.

By Pablo Picasso – Website of the Art Institute of Chicago, PD-US, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20647869

In 1936 in Paris, Charles Tamkó Sirató published his Manifeste Dimensioniste (Dimensionist Manifesto) which described how the Dimensionist tendency has led to:

  • Literature leaving the line and entering the plane.
  • Painting leaving the plane and entering space.
  • Sculpture stepping out of closed, immobile forms.
  • The artistic conquest of four-dimensional space, which to date has been completely art-free.

The Manifesto was signed or endorsed by some of the foremost Modernt Artists of the time:

  • Hans Arp
  • Francis Picabia
  • Wassily Kandinsky
  • Robert Delaunay
  • Marcel Duchamp
  • Enrico Prampolini
  • César Domela
  • Camille Bryen
  • Sonia Delaunay
  • Sophie Taeuber-Arp
  • Ervand Kochar
  • Pierre Albert-Birot
  • Frederick Kann
  • Anton Prinner
  • Mario Nissim
  • Nina Negri
  • Siri Rathsman
  • Charles Sirató
  • Ben Nicholson
  • Alexander Calder
  • Vincente Huidobro
  • David Kakabadze
  • Katarzyna Kobro
  • Joan Miró
  • László Moholy-Nagy
  • Antonio Pedro

Food for Thought

How might you incorporate fourth dimensional concepts in polymer art? What artists do you admire that you feel adds this elusive fourth dimension to their work?

Registration for the Fourth Annual Polymer Art Summit is open until July 31.


1  Henderson, Linda Dalrymple“Overview of The Fourth Dimension And Non-Euclidean Geometry In Modern Art, Revised EditionMIT Press. Archived from the original on 20 March 2013. Retrieved 24 March 2013.