Optical art, also known as ‘Op Art’, refers to a visual movement that gained traction in the 1960s. Optical Art implements geometric shapes arranged into abstract patterns. These rhythmic formal compositions often challenge our perceptions of space in a manner akin to an optical illusion. In response to the viewer’s gaze, many Op Art images appear to dance and shimmer, or to catalyse new shapes and colours. The style is deeply concerned with the psychology of reading images and the relationship between form and optical effects.
Op Art originated in the 1930s as a natural development to modernist art movements such as Cubism, Pointillism, Dadaism and Constructivism. Owing to its mass cultural appeal, it enjoyed immense popularity in the mid-60s and its influence across commercial design came to define the psychedelic imagery of the decade. Its most famous exponents were Victor Vasarely and Bridget Riley, whose work remains highly sought-after to this day.
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‘The Grandfather of Optical Art’
VICTOR VASARELY (HUNGARIAN/FRENCH 1906-1997) NAISSANCES-STUNKE 2 - 1963
The French-Hungarian artist Victor Vasarely is considered to be the ‘grandfather’ of Optical Art. His early training at the Műhely in Budapest placed him in the hub of the Bauhaus movement. This profoundly informed the early work he produced subsequently as a designer of graphics and products. Vasarely’s 1937 painting 'Zebras', painted using only black and white lines, is generally acknowledged to be the earliest ‘Op Art’ painting. Henceforth, his work endeavoured to push perceptual boundaries.
LOT 259 | VICTOR VASARELY (HUNGARIAN/FRENCH 1906-1997) § ZAGREB (BLUE/GREEN VARIATION) - 1968 | SOLD FOR £328 incl premium
The Yellow Manifesto
LOT 257 | VICTOR VASARELY (HUNGARIAN/FRENCH 1906-1997) TUPA - 2 - 1972 | SOLD FOR £278 incl premium
In 1955 Vasarely published the highly influential ‘Yellow Manifesto’ which laid out the objectives of Optical Art. He argued that instead of creating images that reproduced the appearance of the world around us, artists should instead seek to capture qualities such as kineticism, dynamism and tension in their works. Vasarely believed that this could be achieved through the application of scientific principles throughout the artistic process.
Colour Theory
BRIDGET RILEY C.H., C.B.E. (BRITISH, B.1931) | SHADE, 1992 (SCHUBERT 37) Sold for £6,250 incl premium | MODERN MADE | March 2019
Op Art often uses carefully-researched colour combinations which ‘read’ differently depending on how they are viewed. The British artist Bridget Riley is particularly well known for her use of colour theory in her work. Riley’s early paintings used black and white shapes or lines which were composed in a manner that caused the viewer to perceive vibrations and flashes of colour. From the late 1960s Riley introduced polychromy to her work, but continued to use an extremely limited palette of two or three colours. These were usually composed so that when the artwork was viewed from a distance it appeared to take on a multitude of hues.
Two Blues (S. 52, T & G. 52)
BRIDGET RILEY C.H., C.B.E. (BRITISH 1931-)§ | TWO BLUES (S. 52, T & G. 52) - 2003 | £5,000 - £7,000 inc fees
The contemporary art market continues to demonstrate a strong appetite for Op Art pieces, and original artworks and prints by Riley and Vasarely, as well as artists including François Morellet, Jim Lambie, Richard Allen, Jesús Rafael Soto, Josef Albers and Carlos Cruz-Diez command strong prices at auction.
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