Victor Vasarely

VICTOR VASARELY (Pécs, Hungary, 1906 – Paris, 1997).
“Samos,” 1985.
Color silkscreen on paper, print no. 51/150.
Signed and numbered in pencil.
Published by Croix-Rouge, Geneva.
There is a stain on the margin, next to the signature
Measurements: 65.5 x 44 cm (print size); 76 x 56 cm (paper size).

The intense contrast between the orange-red and the violet-blue gives *Samos* an immediate vibrancy, characteristic of Victor Vasarely’s perceptual explorations. The composition is structured by staggered lines, angles, broken planes, and geometric modules that seem to radiate from a central axis.

The rectangle in the center introduces a point of stability within a surface subjected to constant directional tensions. Around it, the forms evoke architectural perspectives, folds, and volumes that advance or recede depending on the viewer’s perspective. Dated 1985, the work belongs to the artist’s full maturity, when his optical vocabulary had achieved a rigorous synthesis of geometry, color, and virtual movement.

Victor Vasarely was a key figure in geometric abstraction and one of the leading pioneers of Op Art. Trained at the Bauhaus-inspired Mühely studio in Budapest, he settled in Paris in 1930. His work is represented in institutions such as the Centre Pompidou, MoMA, and the Tate, as well as at the Fondation Vasarely in Aix-en-Provence.