Fractal Art collection

A selection of postcards showing examples of computer-generated fractal images.

Fractals are infinitely complex patterns that are self-similar across different scales. They are created by repeating a simple process over and over in an ongoing feedback loop. Driven by recursion, fractals are images of dynamic systems – the pictures of Chaos.

Geometrically, they exist in between our familiar dimensions. Fractal patterns are extremely familiar, since nature is full of fractals. For instance: trees, rivers, coastlines, mountains, clouds, seashells, hurricanes, etc.

Fractal art is a form of algorithmic art created by calculating fractal objects and representing the calculation results as still digital images, animations, and media. It developed from the mid-1980s onwards as a genre of computer art and digital art. The Julia set and Mandelbrot sets (both represented in these cards) can be considered as icons of fractal art.

Gaston Maurice Julia (1893-1978) was a French mathematician who devised the formula for the Julia set. His works were popularized by French mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot; the Julia and Mandelbrot fractals are closely related.

Benoit Mandelbrot (1924-2010) was a Polish-born French-American mathematician and polymath with broad interests in the practical sciences, especially regarding what he labelled as "the art of roughness" of physical phenomena and "the uncontrolled element in life".  He referred to himself as a "fractalist" and is recognized for his contribution to the field of fractal geometry, which included coining the word "fractal".