In the mid '70s, Rockburne began the Golden Section Paintings, 1974-1972, a series of shaped canvases based on the ancient Greek theory of proportional interrelationships. Throughout history, many well known thinkers have credited the proportions of the Golden Section with various mystical properties. In the 16th century, Luca Pacioli, a Franciscan monk and a famous mathematician who was a friend of Leonardo and Piero della Francesca, wrote a book on the Golden Section called Divina Proportione, 1509. Divided into three parts, Pacioli's book is based in part on the writings of Piero and contains more than fifty drawings by Leonardo.
Within the terms proposed by Rockburne's use of the Golden Section, geometry is a system of proportional interrelationships rather than a system of measurements. In this regard, her work parallels Mondrian's who distilled the grid underlying Cubism to what he called a "dynamic equilibrium" of architectonic balances and chromatic disruptions. By using the irreducibility of proportions as the foundation of their geometry, both Mondrian and Rockburne are able to make their work allude to the figure, as well as what exists beyond the limits of human knowledge.