Victor Vasarely

Born in Pécs in 1908 and died in 1997 in Paris, is considered to be the artist at the forefront of optical art. Born to a Hungarian-French family, he grew up in Hungary, where he joined the Mühely Workshop, an academy founded by Sándor Bortnyik, continuing ideas of Bauhaus. At the age of 22, Vasarely moved to Paris and worked there as a prominent graphic designer, simultaneously exploring the potential of optical illusion and so-called “internal geometry”. His first serious art world recognition came after three subsequent shows at the Galerie Denise René (1944, 1946, 1949). Afterwards, in the early 1950s, he developed his mature style, combining some of his previous fascinations in cubism and geometrical abstraction with designer’s appeal. Further, Vasarely pursued other inspirations, such as cartography, astrophysics or Gestalt psychology. The period of mid 1950s was arguably the most decisive in the development of Vasarely’s career. Around this time, he executed the first of his several public commissions, such as the decoration of university in Caracas (1954), partook at the Documenta in Kassel (1955, 1959; also 1964, 1968) and represented his theoretical attitude in “Yellow Manifesto”, in which he questioned the traditionally conceived media, such as painting and sculpture. Already critically acclaimed in Europe, he came to the prominence across the pond with the exhibition “The Responsive Eye” (1965) at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, alongside artists such as Jesús Soto, Bridget Riley, François Morellet and Group ZERO. Later on, the artist founded several institutions, beginning with Vasarely Museum in Gordes (1970-96), Foundation Vasarely (1976-1997) and the next two museums, located in Pécs (since 1976) and Budapest (since 1987). More recently, Vasarely was displayed in a dialogue with works of Finnish painter Matti Kujasalo, the exhibition “Optical Paintings” (2014-5) took place at the Museum of Modern Art in Espoo. His work is continually shown all around the world, such as at the Sara Hildén art museum in Tampere, Finland (2023), at the Fabian & Claude Walter gallery in Zurich, Switzerland (2023), and at the gallery d’arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Bergamo, Italy (2023).