Take any triangle with polygon vertices , , and . Pick a point on the side opposite , and draw a line parallel to . Upon reaching the side at , draw the line parallel to . Continue (left figure). Then the line closes for any triangle. If is the midpoint of , then (right figure).
Let be the ratio in which the sides of the reference triangle are divided i.e., , and define . Then the coordinates of the vertices of the figure are shown above.
The six vertexes of Thomsen's figure lie on an ellipse having the triangle centroid as its center. The area of this ellipse is
where is the area of the reference triangle. When (or ), the ellipse becomes the Steiner circumellipse, and when , it becomes the Steiner inellipse (M. Tarquini, pers. comm., Sep. 2, 2005).
Thomsen's figure is similar to a Tucker hexagon. While Thomsen's hexagon closes after six parallels, a Tucker hexagon closes after alternately three parallels and three antiparallels.