Victor Vasarely. The Birth of Op Art, Exhibition, National Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid: 5 June-9 September 2018

Op art, short for optical art, is a type of visual art that uses optical illusions to leave you feeling dizzyling infatuated, exasperated, and completely mind boggled. Op art works are generally abstract and non-representative. Through experimentation with elements such as: textural effects, perspective, light and shadow, the artwork can give the viewer an impression of depth, movement, hidden images, vibrating patterns and swelling or warping. Perhaps better described as a ‘perceptual experience’ related to how vision functions, artists displace the figure-ground relationship, creating a tense juxtaposition between the foreground and the background which makes it near impossible to maintain a single, constant perspective.

Victor Vasarely (1906-1997) was the Hungarian painter behind this revolutionary artistic movement. After two years of studying medicine, Vasarely decided to throw in the towel and to pursue a career in art, enrolling at the highly acclaimed Bauhaus institute in Hungary in 1929. But the years spent studying medicine did not go to waste, as his scientific methodology and objectivity shines through in in his artistic practices.

This exhibition in the National Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum aims to give an overview of Vasarely’s life and work, beginning with the organic shapes and chromatic patterns of his early work and tracing these ideas as they developed into highly complex and increasingly overwhelming geometric themes.

Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza

Paseo del Prado, 8, 28014 Madrid

Opening hours

Tuesday-Sunday, 10.00-19.00

Saturday, 10.00-21.00

29th June-1st September:

Tuesday-Saturday, 10.00-22.00

Sunday, 10.00-19.00

Closed on Monday

Tickets

Ticket gives you access to the permanent collection, and the Monet/Boudin and Victor Vasarely exhibitions.

If you select morning/afternoon tickets, we will choose the available time within the following time frames: morning, opening time-15:30; afternoon, 15.30-closing time.