Vasarely’s four-volume set Plastic Arts (1970), which features numerous color plates, foldouts and loose plastic overlays, not only exemplifies his unique approach to art, but equips the viewer with a finite set of colors and forms to play with and manipulate.
See our combinations below.
Hailed as the co-founder of optical art, or Op Art, the Abstract Painter Victor Vasarely (French, b. Hungary, 1908-1997) produced vibrant optical illusions through the manipulation of color, line, and shape.

Inspired by the psychology of perception, Vasarely employed his training in graphic art and typographic design to develop a precise palette of colors and forms as a guide to the systematic organization of space on a flat surface. From this strict palette of colors and forms, his assistants produced an endless variation of dazzling, shifting, and sometimes flickering optical illusions.

“[Volume II] is my tribute to the multitude, my sly salute to the youth … my hope of seeing fulfilied (sic) the right of all to material, sensorial and intellectual goods, and finally my conviction that to make men see is to make them joyous and civilized.”
–Victor Vasarely

By empowering the viewer to create their own optical illusions (and to enjoy the process of doing so), Vasarely proved a significant influence on contemporary graphic and popular arts.
You can find this book, and many more, in the Museum’s Library/Archives.
