Post-War & Contemporary

Op-art and Geometric Abstraction

About Department

Op-art is one of the most popular and interesting trends in both international and Polish post-war art. It gained popularity in the early 1960s. Often featuring complex optical effects, it explores the psychophysiological properties of abstraction. Experimenting with the principles of consonance and contrasting colours, the artist creates optical illusions whose aesthetic value affects the viewer. The precursor of op-art is Victor Vasarely. His work “Zebra” is considered the beginning of the whole trend.

“Op-art and geometric art” is one of the most prestigious auctions of contemporary art which features works of the most important artists of the 20th century, such as Wojciech Fangor, Victor Vasarely or Julian Stańczak.

It was at the “Contemporary Art. Op-art and Geometric Abstraction” auction that Wojciech Fangor's “M 39” work was auctioned for 4.72 million zlotys. This is an absolute record - the most expensive work of art sold in Poland.

Fangor's paintings, which are part of this trend, are a vibrating blaze of colours, which mingle in a moment that is difficult to capture. The artist intensified the saturation of colours by perfectly aligning the canvas surface, which is almost deprived of traces of the painting process. The contours of his compositions are in fact non-existent, which gives rise to unusual, illusory optical impressions.
Henryk Stażewski, on the other hand, is one of the most outstanding representatives of geometric abstraction. His “Relief No. 19” - a composition consisting of geometric figures of various sizes - was sold for over 950 thousand zlotys. Over the last decade, the value of the artist's works has increased almost six fold.

The Op-art and Geometric Abstraction auctions feature works by such renowned artists as Victor Vasarely, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Richard Anuszkiewicz, Julian Stańczak, Eduardo MacEntyre, Henryk Stażewski, Ryszard Winiarski, Jerzy Kałucki, Janusz Orbitowski, Aleksandra Jachtoma, Andrzej Nowacki or Tadasuke Kuwayama.

Press

02 December 2022
Emocjonujące licytacje, spektakularne wyniki, nowe rekordy
Blisko 35 mln zł – taki obrót uzyskało łącznie 5 grudniowych aukcji Sztuki Współczesnej w DESA Unicum, przynosząc emocjonujące licytacje, spektakularne wyniki i nowe rekordy. Wyniki aukcji dowodzą, że segment ...
03 December 2021
Record contemporary art auctions
Fifty million PLN – this was the turnover of three Contemporary Art auctions at DESA Unicum. At one of them, for the first time in Poland, an NFT work was ...
01 December 2021
Najwięksi mistrzowie Op-Art, Abstrakcji Geometrycznej oraz ...
Polski rynek sztuki sztuki op-art i abstrakcji geometrycznej należy do najbardziej liczących się na świecie. Już 2 grudnia DESA Unicum po raz kolejny wystawi prace największych mistrzów obu nurtów, powierzone ...