En engel

1929–1944

Early graphics: texture, perspective, shadow and light

Vasarely experiments with textural effects, perspective, shadow and light; “Chess Board” (1935) and “Zebras” (1937) belong to these years, and during the 1930s, as a graphic designer and poster artist, he combines patterns and organic images.

1942 or 1944

Settles in Saint-Céré

Having lived mostly in cheap hotels, in 1942 or 1944 Vasarely settles in Saint-Céré in the Lot département.

1944–1947

“Les Fausses Routes”: searching without a style of his own

In 1944 Vasarely takes up painting and for three years experiments with cubist, futurist, expressionist, symbolist and surrealist manners without developing a style of his own; afterwards he says he was “on the wrong track”.

1946–1947

First shows at Denise René and René Breteau

In 1946 Vasarely exhibits at the gallery of Denise René and in 1947 at the gallery of René Breteau; Jacques Prévert, who writes the introduction to the catalogue, places him among the surrealists and coins the term “imaginaires” (images + noir, black) for the paintings.