Victor Vasarely (Hungarian, born 1908) Vega-Nor, 1969 Oil on canvas, 78 3/4 x 78 3/4" Gift of Seymour H. Knox, 1969

Vega-Nor is an excellent example of Op art, a movement that developed in the 1960s. Op artists, interested in the scientific properties of color and line, studied how the eye’s retina processes information and how that information is translated in the brain. They found that through the manipulation of color and line, our perception can be fooled. Thus the name Op art, which refers to optics and optical illusions.

Vega-Nor creates the optical illusion of a sphere on a flat surface. The illusion is successful due to the ways in which Vasarely used color, shape, and line. Warm colors such as orange and yellow tend to advance in space, and were chosen to surround the central squares, thus making them seem to pop out. The largest and least distorted shapes are in the center as well. Shapes become progressively thinner and smaller as they get farther away from the center, which makes them seem to recede into space. The lines also reinforce the illusion. The center horizontal and vertical lines are straight, even though they may not at first appear to be so, while the others curve at carefully calculated angles. The small squares in each corner are the same size and painted with straight lines, creating a convincing background for the illusionistic sphere.

There is more to Vasarely’s art than the science of colors and optics, however. He was also very interested in a democratic form of art that everyone could understand, not just those with certain types of educational backgrounds and experiences. Op Art serves that goal well. There is no story to tell, history to know, or symbolism essential to the work’s comprehension. Vasarely was also inspired by nature, and it is here that meaning beyond the optical illusion can be found if desired. He said: "VEGA is a distant star well-known by everyone….This composition expresses the extension, the expansion of the Universe: the extreme of the great infinities of Nature….most of my ‘expanding’ compositions have been called ‘VEGA,’ but in order to differentiate them—aside from numbering—I add a small word such as ‘VEGA-NOR’."

— Mariann Smith

SUGGESTIONS FOR HANDS-ON AND DISCUSSION ACTIVITIES

• Research and make some other optical illusions. This could be an individual project, or if a very interesting optical illusion is found, the class could plan and execute a very large version of it.
• Using a computer paint program, make some simple shapes, such as two squares side-by-side. Color them each a different color and see if they seem to recede or come forward relative to each other and the background. Try it with two squares on top of each other (obviously, one would have to be bigger than the other). Try circles next. Make a chart of which colors seem to come forward and which seem to recede. Is there a pattern to these colors?