FONDATION VASARELY - Exhibition: The art of the multiple, Victor Vasarely and serigraphy

"But we can no longer stop there and confine this unique work to the privileged few. On the contrary! We must work from it, recreate it in other functions, multiply it and project it into the spaces of the world".
Victor Vasarely, "La sérigraphie, Arcay et la re-création",
These were the words with which Victor Vasarely presented silkscreen in 1957. Vasarely's aim was to democratize his work, and the screen-printing process enabled him to move from an initial prototype to multiples. The original works are thus produced in various numbered programs, accompanied by a corresponding range of colors, before being transformed into genuine silkscreen prints, signed and numbered. Opposing the idea of the single, exclusive work, Vasarely persisted in reproducing it, with the aim of making art accessible to everyone, resulting in multiple, identical art in every material and dimension.


Inaugurated in 1976, the architectonic center of Aix-en-Provence reflects the essence of Vasarely’s mission. Designed as a place of exchange, experiments and new encounters, this multi-disciplinary “laboratory” would bring together plastic arts, architecture, new technologies, chemistry, and other disciplines. The ““polychromatic city of happiness” was born.

Designed by Vasarely in collaboration with architects Jean Sonnier, Dominique Ronsseray and Claude Pradel-Lebar, the 5,000 sq. meter building is an example of the very same urban design which the Foundation seeks to promote.

Sixteen hexagon-based modules are embedded in a gigantic building using technology and materials endorsed by modern art movements. The honeycomb structure presents various models of the integration of plastic arts and architecture, using optical art as its common ground.

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