Hungarian-French artist

 

Creating the Op Art movement, which Bridget Riley and Yaacov Agam would come to follow. Vasarely’s paintings and sculpture utilized geometrical shapes and colorful graphics to create illusions of spatial depth on two-dimensional surfaces. This abstract method of painting, also known as Kineticism, borrowed from a diverse range of influences, including Bauhaus principles, Wassily Kandinsky’s abstraction, and the Constructivist movement, which had a particularly significant impact on Vasarely’s practice. Born Vásárhelyi Gyozo on April 9, 1906 in Pécs, Hungary, the artist originally studied medicine, but switched to painting after two years. Vasarely enrolled in the Hungarian branch of the Bauhaus (Muhely) in Budapest in the late 1920s. After settling in Paris in 1930, Vasarely worked as a graphic artist and developed his signature abstract aesthetic. He lived and worked in the city until his death at the age of 90 on March 15, 1997