Guide to Op Art: 5 Notable Op Art Artists and Artworks

Optical art, commonly known as op art, is a visual art form that uses non-representational geometric patterns and colors to create an illusion of movement, such as warping, flashing, or after-images. In the art form, which dates back to the early twentieth century, artists create illusions by tapping into the connection between the eye and the brain: The retina in the eye recognizes patterns, while the brain makes sense of patterns. Op artists can “trick” the eye and brain with the juxtaposition of specific black-and-white patterns or color combinations that cause the viewer to see movement, after-images, or other effects.

Op art is closely connected to abstract art and kinetic art, three-dimensional art forms that involve movement, and trompe l’oeil, which uses realistic images to “deceive the eye” into perceiving them as three-dimensional images.

The origins of op art date back to the early twentieth century:

• Origins: Op art originated from the Bauhaus School in Germany, where constructivism (formal design used to create a visual effect) was part of its curriculum. When the school closed in 1933, many of its lecturers, like Josef Albers, continued to teach and create works that resembled op art in the United States. At the same time, Hungarian painter Victor Vasarely was also experimenting with poster art that employed visual tricks, like in Zebras, his 1938 painting that features two zebras tussling on a black background.
• Mainstream success: By the 1950s, black-and-white optical art had begun to appear at exhibits in the United Kingdom, including early works by Bridget Riley and John McHale’s “dazzle” panels. The term “op art” was first used by Time magazine, which employed it to describe a 1964 show by American painter and printmaker Julian Stanczak. The following year, an exhibit called “The Responsive Eye” featured works by Riley, Vasarely, and Venezuelan artist Jesus Rafael Soto, among others, at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York City. The show was top-rated and helped briefly elevate op art in the contemporary art field.
• Decline: This boost proved short-lived, and by the late ‘60s, the artform was eclipsed by pop art and other forms. Despite this decline, op artworks continued to be produced, most notably in graphic design for commercial art like posters, album covers, and advertisements.

Several distinguishing characteristics define op artworks:

1. 1. Color juxtaposition: Though early op art creators frequently used black-and-white in their works, the juxtaposition of various colors would come to characterize the artform. As the art form grew in popularity, op artists began using contrasting colors to create a unique and even disorienting, three-dimensional quality to optical illusions.
2. 2. Illusion of movement: Patterns using colors that are chromatically opposites—also known as complementary colors—like blue and orange or red and green are used to create the illusion of movement and even after-images.
3. 3. Non-objective shapes: Stripes are often the image of choice for op artists who want to create optical illusions, but other non-objective shapes recur in these works, like circles, waves, and vortexes. Op artists use repetitive shapes in patterns, like checkerboards or concentric circles, to fool the eye into seeing movement.

The op art movement includes many painters, printmakers, and artists from other mediums. Here are some of the best-known figures in the op art movement and their most significant works:

1. 1. Victor Vasarely: Widely regarded as one of the fathers of op art, Vasarely was a graphic artist who produced meticulous geometric works that foresaw the movement 30 years before the term entered the public consciousness. His 1938 painting Zebras showed the remarkable ability to create an illusion of movement through alternating black-and-white images.
2. 2. Bridget Riley: Another pioneering figure in op art, British-born artist Bridget Riley was fascinated by how viewers perceived images and created works that could overwhelm with their intense geometric patterns. Blaze, from 1964, features a zigzag pattern that suggests swirling circular motion, depth, and shifting direction within the same image.
3. 3. Richard Anuszkiewicz: The American painter and printmaker, who studied under Josef Albers, employed powerful colors to explore how light could change their look and how viewers would perceive geometric forms in those colors. His Radiant Green (1964) features three shapes—two squares and a diamond—against a field of alternating white and color stripes to suggest dynamic shifting movement and dimensions within a static frame.
4. 4. Carlos Cruz-Diez: Cruz-Diez’s paintings and installations bridged the op and kinetic art world to explore color and movement. The Venezuelan artist’s work encompassed paintings, works on aluminum, light saturation, and even large-scale pieces. To create Dazzle Ship (2014), Cruz-Diez wrapped an entire ship in dazzle camouflage to expand viewers’ understanding of how light and color impact each other.
5. 5. Julio Le Parc: He began his career in his native Argentina before relocating to Paris in 1958, where he met Vasarely and Cruz-Diez, among others. Le Parc helped influence the op art and kinetic art movements with pieces like Mobil Transparent theme (1960), which featured plexiglass pieces connected in a shape that suggested flowing liquid and appeared to move and change depending on the position and perspective of the viewer.

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