In creating his architectural center in 1976, Victor Vasarely made a gesture of exceptional significance and generosity. This French artist of Hungarian origin (Pécs 1906 – Paris 1997), internationally recognized as the father of Op Art, a specialist in optical and kinetic effects, as well as a brilliant advertising illustrator, created in Aix-en-Provence “La Cité polychrome of happiness “, bringing together visual artists, architects and urban planners, and wished to promote a social art accessible to all.
Vasarely Foundation, hall n°5
Reflecting on the art and avant-garde look that Victor Vasarely focused on the role of the artist in the twentieth century, the Foundation was created to popularize art without cultural or social discrimination: an art for all; accessible to everyone.
Avant-garde architecture, the Foundation is thought of as a gigantic lumino-kinetic sculpture where the optical animations of the facade prefigure the kinetic games of the 42 monumental integrations that we discover inside the building.
The most famous works of Victor Vasarely are presented to the Foundation in the form of monumental works allowing the visitor to appreciate the outcome to which Vasarely brings geometric abstract painting under the name of kinetic art. Vasarely was one of the promoters of this movement, as well as his son Yvaral, visual artist and graphic designer. The Foundation presents their works, as well as those of contemporary artists who work on the interactions between the work and the public in temporary exhibitions.
Next conference by Agnès Ghenassia
Modern and contemporary portraits and self-portraits, the 3rd of March 2020
A conference by Agnès Ghenassia
The portrait, which in the nineteenth century was still the result of private commissions, has become among modern artists the support of many formal researches. Much more than a simple imitation of the model, it bears witness to many questions linked to the “presence” of an identity, even when screened by distortion.
Whether it is the fruit of a face to face with the living model or composed from a photograph, what does the “flesh” of the painting bring to the face?
Today, portraiture is making a massive return to contemporary art, sometimes questioning the “I” as a social, moving construction, and moving away from the true and the authentic, but still showing interest in individual.
Tuesday, March the 3rd 2020 at 10:30 am
ENTRY FEE MEMBERS : 5€
NON MEMBERS : 7€
Fondation Vasarely
Jas de Bouffan
1 avenue Marcel Pagnol
13090 Aix-en-Provence
Trip to Budapest and Pécs from the 27th of May to the 1st of June 2020
The Friends of the Vasarely Foundation offer you, accompanied by Agnès Ghenassia,
a trip to Budapest and Pécs from May 27 to June 1, 2020.
Budapest and Pécs are the two Hungarian cities to which Victor Vasarely donated part of his work and both dedicate a museum to the famous child of the country.
But Budapest is above all a dynamic, cheerful European metropolis, which preserves the traces of a rich and tumultuous past with baroque districts, rococo, art nouveau, Bauhaus (..and Stalinist architecture), which has beautiful museums and perpetuates in daily of ancient traditions, such as thermal baths, crafts, and a cuisine rich in goulash, stews and creamy pastries. In addition, during the last week of May, we will enjoy a biennial of contemporary art which allows dynamic gallery owners to promote the young scene of Hungarian creators.
We will devote a day to visiting Pécs, 200 km southwest of Budapest (round trip by bus), a small university and cultural town famous among other things for its Zsolnay (art nouveau style) ceramic factory.
