Victor Vasarely

Victor Vasarely was a French-Hungarian artist credited as the grandfather and leader of the Op Art movement. His works has been influenced by Bauhaus design principles, Wassily Kandinsky, and Constructivism. Born Győző Vásárhelyi on April 9, 1906 in Pécs, Hungary, he briefly studied medicine, but after two years he dedicated himself to learn academic painting. In the late 1920s, Vasarely enrolled at the Muhely Academy in Budapest. After settling in Paris in 1930, Vasarely worked in advertising agencies to support himself as a graphic artist. The artist experimented in a style based in Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism during the 1940s, before arriving at his hallmark checkerboard paintings. The artist died at age 90 on March 15, 1997 in Paris, France. His works are presently held in the collections of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Tate Gallery in London, and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice.