Victor Vasarely: Einstein in the Sky with Diamonds

Mazzoleni presents Victor Vasarely: Einstein in the Sky with Diamonds, a selection of major works by the master of optical and kinetic art, covering almost his entire career from the 1950s to the 1980s. 

The curated selection of compositions will showcase Vasarely’s experimentations with the activation of the surface by the use of small and repeated geometric units in reference to modern astronomy and physics, and by the theory of relativity in particular.

Dating from the 1950s, works such as the striking Cassiopée 3 (1957) invented the language of Op Art. In the following decade, the painter rationalised the use of those “plastic units” by distributing them inside grids where the variations of tones and shades were rigorously modulated, as it is evident in the sculptural shapes and contrasting colours of Arc Tur (1968).

The exhibition is dominated by Einstein-Ker (1976), a large canvas whose title refers to the founder of the theory of relativity, Albert Einstein. Fascinated by the scientific discoveries of his time, Vasarely sought to translate them into “plastic equivalents”. The treatment of formal elements is not limited to simple formalism, as they produce visual phenomena connecting with the invisible manifestations of matter or the “supra-dimensions” of the universe. According to his approach, the alternation of positive and negative in the 1950s compositions would visually express the hypothesis of anti-matter and the existence of mirror universes. When planning his works, Vasarely used to prepare preliminary scale drawings and models—or “programmations” (programs) in his own terms—of which an example will be also presented. 

On the occasion of the exhibition, Mazzoleni will publish a catalogue in which Arnauld Pierre—co-curator of the retrospective Vasarely, Sharing Forms at Centre Pompidou in 2019—will discuss in a fascinating essay the scientific poetics that the painter placed at the heart of his work as well as the universalist ideals that guided his practice.

The exhibition offers a completition of Mazzoleni’s participation in Frieze Masters 2022 where, beside featuring masters of the post-war European abstraction, will present a focus on Vasarely’s “Black and White” period from the 1950s.