Considering that in 1976 VICTOR VASARELY created his foundation in Aix in Provence in the south of France, one may wonder why starting a MICHÈLE VASARELY Foundation?
Regrettably, the Aix-en-Provence institution in which its founder had invested so much energy and hope is inexorably declining due to its lingering association with the legal world as well as the political arena, both universes being totally antinomic to art.
More than 30 years of proceedings and associated scandals have prevented this major work of the twentieth century from interconnecting with the true cultural milieu and from achieving…
Located at 263 calle San Sebastian, one of the most iconic streets of old San Juan, the Michele Vasarely Foundation resides within an incredible building. Once the property of the Vatican, it was an important institution in Puerto Rico as a school. Acquired by Michele Vasarely in ruins, it required lot’s of hard work to bring it back to its splendour. it is now a 3000 square meters property that includes a chapel, an art gallery and office space.
The team of the Michele Vasarely Foundation is composed of an operational team that works on a daily basis to bring forward the mission of the Foundation and of a scientific comitee that works accordingly to its needs to bring forward the research and knowledge of its’s legacy.
Victor Vasarely
Victor Vasarely is considered the leading pioneer of Optical Art.
He was born on April 9, 1906, in Pécs, Hungary. In 1927, after studying medicine at the Budapest University for two years, he left school to devote himself to art. In 1929 he enrolled at Mühely, a school founded by Alexandre Bortnyik and based on the principles of the Dessau Bauhaus. It was during this time that he first encountered Constructivism and Abstract Art.
In 1930 he moved to Paris, where he started to work as a graphic designer.
During his first graphic period (1929-1946), Vasarely laid the foundations for his future artistic practice. Between 1935 and 1947 the artist rediscovered painting. Influenced by Cubism and Surrealism, he focused on portrait, landscape, and still life. His works dating from the “Belle-Isle” period (1947–1958) marked his passage into abstraction through the use of natural… materials….“Denfert” period (1951-1958) gave rise to peculiar designs inspired by the walls of the Denfert-Rochereau Métro station in Paris. …
Yvaral Vasarely
Jean-Pierre Vasarely (1934–2002), professionally known as Yvaral, studied graphic art and publicity at the École des Arts Appliqués in Paris between 1950 and 1953.
In 1960, Yvaral co-founded the Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visual (GRAV) with Julio Le Parc, François Morellet, Francisco Sobrino, Horacio Garcia Rossi and Joel Stein, seeking to develop a coherent abstract visual language composed of simple geometric elements.
In 1975 he coined the phrase ‘Numerical Art’ to describe artwork composed (or programmed) according to numerical rules or algorithms. From this time onwards he used computers to digitally process and manipulate images, although the final images were always hand painted. He used this technique to produce several series of portraits starting from instantly recognisable images, such as the face of Marilyn Monroe, and processing them… to the point where they become abstract compositions…
