Cube, c.1975

Victor Vasarely was a French-Hungarian artist credited as the grandfather and leader of the Op Art movement. In the late 1920s, he enrolled at the Muhely Academy in Budapest, where the curriculum was largely based on Walter Gropius’s Bauhaus school in Germany. Vasarely’s method of painting drew from a range of influences, including Bauhaus design principles, Wassily Kandinsky, and Constructivism. In 1930, Vasarely settled in Paris. His work is characterised by the use of geometric shapes and colourful graphics, creating compelling illusions of spatial depth.