Hungarian-French artist Victor Vasarely, known as the "grandfather" and leader of the Op Art movement, was born in Pecs, Hungary in 1908. He grew up in Pieštany (then Pöstyén) and Budapest where in 1925 he took up medical studies at Budapest University. In 1927 he abandoned medicine to learn traditional academic painting at the private Podolini-Volkmann Academy. In 1928/1929, he enrolled at Sándor Bortnyik's Muhely "workshop", then widely recognized as the center of Bauhaus studies in Budapest. Vasarely's excellence in drawing was quickly noticed. In 1929, he painted his “Blue Study” and “Green Study”.

Vasarely left Hungary and emigrated to Paris in 1930. He worked as a graphic artist and as a creative consultant at the advertising agencies Havas, Draeger, and Devambez (1930-1935).

In 1943, Vasarely began to work extensively in oils, creating both abstract and figurative canvases. His first Paris exhibition occurred the following year at Galerie Denise René, which he helped to found. Vasarely became the leader of the avant-garde group of the important artists affiliated with the gallery.

During the 1950s, Vasarely wrote a series of manifestos on the use of optical phenomena for artistic purposes. These were a significant influence on younger artists. In 1955, Galerie Denise René hosted a major group exhibition in connection with Vasarely's painting experiments with movement. This was the first important exhibition of kinetic art. In addition to art by Vasarely, it included works by Yaacov Agam, Pol Bury, Soto and Jean Tinguely, among others. Most Americans were first introduced to Vasarely by the groundbreaking exhibition, "The Responsive Eye," at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1965. The show confirmed Vasarely's international reputation as the father of Op art.

The artist has made numerous monumental sculptures and murals, including works for the Students' Residential Center of Caracas; Faculté des Sciences, Marseille-Saint-Jerome; University of Bonn; Padagogische Hochschule, Essen; University of the Ruhr, Bochum; Maine-Montparnasse Station, Paris; Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines, Montpellier; and Israel Museum, Jerusalem.

Vasarely has received numerous important awards and honors, including the Guggenheim Prize, New York; Painting Prize, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh; Grand Prize, Eighth Biennial of Art, Sao Paulo; Medal of Honor, Aix-en-Provence; Gold Medal, Milan Triennial; Foreign Ministers' Prize, Tokyo Biennale; and Certificate of Distinction and Presidential Citation, New York University. In 1970, Vasarely was named a Knight of the Legion of Honor in France. He has received an honorary Ph.D. from Cleveland State University and is an honorary professor at the School of Applied Arts, Budapest, as well as an honorary citizen of New Orleans and Villeparisis, France.

Among the many major books which have been written on Vasarely are “Vasarely, A Survey of His Work” by Jean Clay, “Victor Vasarely” by Abraham Moles, “Vasarely” by Gaston Diehi, “Vasarely et le Cinetisme” by Michael Ragon, “Vasarely I-IV” by Victor Vasarely and “Vasarely” by Werner Spies.

The artist's works are included in almost every museum in the world which has a collection of contemporary art. In 1989, Victor Vasarely visited the United States for the first time in many years to participate in the gala openings of two major Vasarely retrospective exhibitions at Circle Gallery-Soho, New York and Circle Gallery, Chicago.