“The future is taking shape with the new geometric, polychrome and solar city. The visual arts there will be kinetic, multidimensional, and communal; abstract, to be sure, and closely linked to the sciences.
” - Victor Vasarely

As the inventor of kinetic art, Victor Vasarely’s work occupies a unique place in the history of 20th-century art. Having achieved fame during his lifetime, he distinguished himself in contemporary art by creating a new movement: optical art. In 1929, he enrolled at the Muhëly, known as the Bauhaus school of Budapest. This school, founded by Alexander Bortnyik on the model of the Bauhaus in Dessau, adopted the teachings imparted in Germany by artists such as Walter Gropius, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, and Josef Albers. The influence of Bauhaus teaching would be considerable in Vasarely’s work, as he was introduced to the principles of abstract art and constructivism.

Vasarely had a true revelation that “pure form and pure color can signify the world…”. The foundations of a universal plastic alphabet—a modular, combinatorial art accessible to all—were already laid. In 1944, the artist exhibited for the first time at the Denise René Gallery in Paris, which would become the cradle of Op Art and kinetic art. He exhibited alongside artists such as Duchamp, Man Ray, Calder, Tinguely, and Agam, conducting research on the theme of movement. In 1955, in his “Manifeste Jeune,” Vasarely articulated the concept of “kinetic art.” The 1960s saw an explosion of color in the artist’s work, with the “Planetary Folklore” series:
The plastic unit is revisited, “composed of two geometric elements that fit into one another, combine, and permute.” " With these two-tone units, in bold or contrasting hues, the artist invented his Plastic Alphabet, which brought to life an idea dating back to the turn of the century among abstract artists: to develop a method enabling the creation of a universal language understandable to all.

This plastic alphabet would become the starting point for a collective art movement. Through the interplay of combinations and permutations, a multitude of possibilities becomes available by combining the forms and shades of the color ranges defined by the artist. “The advent in the visual arts of a combinatorial system of this scale offers a tool of universal character, while allowing for the expression of both individual personality and ethnic particularities. ” In this combinatorial art, elements can be codified or programmed. Vasarely uses new techniques and technologies to diversify and compose works ad infinitum. Thus, elements can be prefabricated using industrial processes, and the works will be monumental, integrated into architecture and our urban environment.

In 1965, the same year this painting was created, he participated in the “Responsive Eye” exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, dedicated to Optical Art. This movement seeks to suggest movement without ever truly achieving it. It establishes new relationships between viewers and the artwork by eliciting the active participation of the observer. The viewer is free to interpret the image in as many visual ways as they can conceive. Due to the success of this new trend, the press and the public hailed Vasarely as the inventor of “optical art.”