Born Pecs, Hungary, 1908 died 1997Vasarely enrolled in the School of Medecine in Budapest, but left to attend classes at the Podolini-Volkman Academy. During 1928 - 29 he studied at the Budapest Bauhaus  the Mühely Academy directed by Alexandre Bortnyik. He attended lectures by Moholy-Nagy and was introduced to the work of Malevitch, Mondrian, Gropius, Kandinsky and Le Corbusier. He settled in Paris at the end of 1930, and became a member of the Galerie Denise Rene group from its inception in 1944. He took part in the Salon des Surindependants, the Salon des Realites Nouvelles and the Salon de Mai. There were one-man shows in Budapest (1930, 1933), Copenhagen (1950), Stockholm (1952), Brussels (1954), and the Galerie Denise René in Paris (1944, 1946, 1949, 1952, 1955). Among many international prizes Vasarely was awarded the Prix de la Critique in Brussels, the Gold Medal at the Milan Trienniale, the International Prize at Valencia, Venezuela, the Guggenheim International Prize, the Grand Prix de Gravure, Lubljana, and the Grand Prix de la Biennale de Sao Paulo. By the end of the 1950s Vasarely was the acknowledged leader of what had become known as the Op-Art movement. During the 1970s he created the Vasarely Foundation in Gordes, southern France, and the Vasarely Center in New York, which were devoted to the continuation and preservation of his work.