23 - Victor Vasarely (Hungarian-French, 1906-1997)

Victor Vasarely (Hungarian-French, 1906-1997) Vega-Tuz III - 1972-73 Oil on canvas 120 x 120 cm Signed lower center Signed, titled, and dated on verso, with dimensions Provenance: Galerie Veranneman, Brussels The Robert and Suzanne Pannier Collection, Bruges With a photo-certificate by Pierre Vasarely, dated 4 July 2026. Executed in 1972-73, Vega-Tuz III belongs to the Vega series. Over the following decades, the swelling, distorted grids characteristic of these paintings would become one of the most recognisable features of Vasarely's œuvre. During the 1960s and 1970s, fascinated by contemporary discoveries in astronomy and reports of mysterious signals originating from distant galaxies, Vasarely increasingly turned to astronomical titles. "Vega" refers to one of the brightest stars visible in the northern sky, while "Tuz", the Hungarian word for fire, evokes the energetic forces at work within the composition. The swelling, convex and concave distortions that animate the Vega paintings serve as visual analogies for pulsating stars, condensing galaxies and an expanding universe. In the present work, a rigorous network of black and white grid lines expands and contracts with mathematical precision. What begins as a perfectly ordered structure gradually bends around an invisible centre, transforming the regular orthogonal matrix into the illusion of a sphere projecting beyond the picture plane. No actual movement occurs, yet the eye continually oscillates between convexity and concavity, between the surface of the canvas and the fictive space it appears to generate. The dating of the work reflects Vasarely's own method of recording the development of his compositions. The first date refers to the initial conception of the image, while the second indicates the execution of the present painting. This practice is particularly revealing in the case of the Vega series, to which Vasarely returned repeatedly over the following two decades. Vega-Tuz III, however, was executed at an early stage in the development of what would become one of Vasarely's most enduring motifs. Restrained to the stark opposition of black and white, the composition reduces the optical effect to its essential elements, allowing the deformation of the grid itself to generate the sensation of movement, depth, and light.