Victor Vasarely

Victor Vasarely (real name Győző Vásárhelyi; 1906, Pécs - 1997, Paris) was a Hungarian-French painter and graphic artist, widely regarded as the creator and „grandfather” of op-art. After a short period of medical studies he trained at the Műhely school in Budapest (the so-called Budapest Bauhaus), where he came into contact with Constructivism, and from 1930 he worked in Paris as a graphic artist. His work „Zebra” (1937) is regarded as one of the first works of op-art.

Vasarely strove to create a universal, ideology-free language based on the mathematical-physical laws of vision. His colour-pulsating, illusionist compositions - from the „black-and-white” period to the two-colour works - evoke an impression of movement, undulation and vibration; in 1955 he announced the „Manifeste Jaune” with the notion of „kinetic plasticity”. Repeatedly awarded (including the Guggenheim International Award, 1964; the Legion of Honour, 1970), he was given his own museums in Budapest and Aix-en-Provence; he is regarded as a precursor of the era of computer graphics.