Vasarely designed the Renault logo in 1972, with his son Yvaral. The angular diamond went onto cars from the Renault 5 onwards and lasted two decades.
Key facts
- Lived
- 1906–1997, French
- Works held in
- 28 museums
Biography
He was born Vasarhelyi Gyozo in Pecs, Hungary, in 1906. He studied medicine for two years at university in Budapest before abandoning it for art, training at the Muhely school, widely regarded as the Budapest Bauhaus. He moved to Paris in 1930 and worked as a commercial graphic designer for years, successful enough to fund his private experiments in geometric abstraction.
His 1937 work Zebra, two interlocking black-and-white shapes that appear to oscillate, is considered one of the earliest examples of Op Art, decades before the movement had a name. The Vega series from the 1960s and 1970s, with their swelling, spherical distortions of grid patterns that seem to push out of the canvas surface, became his most recognisable works.
In 1982, 154 of his serigraphs were taken to space aboard the French-Soviet Salyut 7 spacecraft and later sold for the benefit of UNESCO. He died in Paris in 1997, aged ninety.
Timeline
- 1929Painted "Etudes Bauhaus A".
- 1929Painted "Etudes Bauhaus C".
- 1951Painted "Meandres Belle-Isle".
- 1958Painted "Cassiopée II NB".
- 1968Painted "Keple Gestalt".
- 1970Painted "Composition Carrée Relief".
Notable Works
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Where to See Victor Vasarely
28 museums worldwide.
- 126 works
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest
Budapest, Hungary
- 10 works
Israel Museum
Jerusalem, Israel
-
3 works
Buffalo AKG Art Museum
Buffalo, United States
- 6 works
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen - Robbrecht & Daem wing, Netherlands
-
3 works
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Upper East Side, United States
-
3 works
Tate
Tate Britain, United Kingdom
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Frequently Asked Questions
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Victor Vasarely was one of the pioneers of Optical art. He was born in Pecs, Hungary in 1908.What was victor vasarely known for?
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According to the text, Victor Vasarely's 'Yak' (1964) tempera, 31x31, is priced at 80x80.