The legacy of the master of Op Art will be celebrated with a major exhibition series at various venues in Budapest to mark the 120th anniversary of Victor Vasarely’s birth: the Museum of Fine Arts, the Hungarian National Gallery and the NEO Contemporary Art Space will approach Vasarely’s oeuvre and its lasting impact from different perspectives at their respective exhibitions.
Vasarely 120 – Three Exhibitions, Three Perspectives, One Genius
The Vasarely 120 exhibition series welcomes visitors in 2026 at the Museum of Fine Arts, the Hungarian National Gallery and the NEO Contemporary Art Space. Coinciding with the opening of the exhibition at NEO, the Museum of Fine Arts’ Vasarely 120 can be viewed from 15 May, while the Hungarian National Gallery’s Kinetic Visions. Nicolas Schöffer and Victor Vasarely in Dialogue will run from 19 March.
The three exhibitions together provide a unique opportunity for the public to get a comprehensive picture of the life’s work of one of the most renowned Hungarian-born artists. A discounted combined ticket is available for all three exhibitions, and can be purchased on the Liget+ website:
Everything about Vasarely
Organised to mark the 120th anniversary of Victor Vasarely’s birth, the exhibition at NEO examines the artist’s impact in Hungary through the lens of the experimental art of the 1960s and 1970s. While the Museum of Fine Arts’ major retrospective provides a comprehensive overview of Vasarely’s oeuvre and his role in the development of geometric abstraction and Op Art, this exhibition approaches his legacy through the neo-avant-garde movements of the period.
The exhibition, curated by Zsolt Petrányi, explores the boundaries of perception and interpretation through photo-based works and experimental films. By tracing the connections between conceptual thinking, seriality and geometric abstraction, it reveals the artistic environment in which Vasarely’s work was both highly influential and deeply contested.
The title Vasarely Don’t Go Home refers to an action from 1969 that encapsulated the contradictions surrounding the artist’s reception at the time, while raising still relevant questions about the relationship between art, politics and the artistic canon. Engaging with this dialogue, the exhibition provides a new perspective and, together with the National Gallery’s chamber exhibition, places Vasarely’s oeuvre in a broader context.
The Themes of the Three Exhibitions
The Museum of Fine Arts’ major retrospective Vasarely 120 provides a comprehensive overview of the artist’s oeuvre and his pivotal role in the development of geometric abstraction.
The Hungarian National Gallery’s chamber exhibition Kinetic Visions. Nicolas Schöffer and Victor Vasarely in Dialogue focuses on the parallel aspirations in the work of the two artists.
The exhibition VASARELY DON’T GO HOME! – Construction, Grid Structure and Illusion in the Art of Vasarely and the Hungarian Neo-avant-garde at the Hungarian House of the Millennium – NEO Contemporary Art Space examines Vasarely’s influence in Hungary through the neo-avant-garde art of the 1960s and 1970s, exploring the concepts of construction, illusion and the grid structure.