Vasarely, Victor

Victor Vasarely (Pécs, 1906 - Paris, 1997) was a Hungarian artist based in Paris, who has often been considered the father of op art or cinetic art.
He wanted to incorporate the temporal dimension to the plastic form, a path already started by the Futurists and Duchamp. His painting is based on scientific rigor and combines the laws of physics and knowledge of geometry, along with the perceptual qualities of color and its influence on visual perception. His work was not so much based on the beauty of the forms as on the visual surprise they produce, motivated by perceptual deception.
Between 1927 and 1929 he studied at the Poldini-Volkman Academy in Budapest and in 1930 he settled in Paris, where he worked as a graphic designer for advertising agencies. That same year he married fellow student Claire Spinner. Together they had two sons, André and Jean-Pierre.
After a period of figurative expression, he opted for a constructive and geometric abstract art, interested in perspective without vanishing points.
Between 1936 and 1948 he participated regularly in the Salon des Surindependants and the Salon des Nouvelles Réalités. From 1948 he exhibited regularly at the Denise René Gallery. In the fifties he introduced new materials in his work (aluminum, glass) and began to create works of integration with space.
In the 1960s he participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions. For example, the group show
The Responsive Eye at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He also had several solo exhibitions in Europe and America.
He received the Guggenheim International Prize in 1964 and the Grand Prize at the Sao Paulo Biennial in 1965. During these years he produced two-dimensional works that visually suggest movement and three-dimensional works that require the viewer to move in order to produce a kinetic effect. At the end of the sixties he received new awards for his work, such as the Painting Prize of the Carnegie Institute of Pittsburg. He participated, among others, in the exhibition entitled
Lumière et Mouvement at the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris in 1967. In 1970 the Didactic Museum Vasarely was inaugurated in the castle of Gordes in Vaucluse and in 1976 the Vasarely Foundation was inaugurated in Aix-en-Provence.