Victor Vasarely (1906–1997) was a Hungarian–French artist, widely regarded as the father of ‘Op-Art’, a style that was also made prominent by artists such as Bridget Riley and Maurits Escher. Vasarely used geometric shapes and bold colours to create illusions of depth, playing with perception and space.
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During his youth, Vasarely worked in advertising creating graphic art, whilst creating his own artwork in his spare time. While the artist’s earlier art prints were concerned more with colour theory, during the 1950’s and 1960’s his work became more focused on the optical potential of a flat surface. His experimentations with his own style would eventually come to be known as the Op Art movement. His work is held in the permanent collections of museums around the world, such as the Tate gallery in London, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice.
His artwork had a significant influence on popular culture of the 1960’s and 70’s, affecting architectural trends, fashion and computer science. We love how Vasarely insisted on making his art accessible to all walks of life, regardless of how famous he became and how sought after his artworks were.
