Cell 5

Central room, in the heart of the integrations. From this cell, the visitor can see the other 6 cells. This arrangement is original for its time, to have conceived this fluidity of circulation for a total freedom of wandering from one room to another. Here, the color bursts out, fuses from all sides. These works are part of the “Planetary Folklore” period. Victor Vasarely invented an alphabet composed of 30 different geometric shapes that he associated with 30 selected colors. From this register, he develops a basic unit called “plastic unit”, made of assembled forms and colors. The intuitive alphabet at the beginning, changes into a patented alphabet book in 1959.

Through this alphabet, Vasarely advocates an art for all, accessible to the greatest number of people and destined to embellish the facades of the world in order to establish a new urban aesthetic and make his famous “polychrome city of happiness” shine. In this room, Vasarely’s precursory side is revealed, at a time when we are still very far from the capacities offered by computers. Coded and programmable, this art can be mass-produced in industrial materials. This is the tool that will allow him to integrate plastic beauty into architecture. In his collection “Notes Brutes”, published in 1956, Vasarely specifies his vision: “I believe I have discovered an organic plasticity. Unity is a chromosome that generates tissues of the most beautiful plasticity, a promise of survival.

Zoom on MAJUS

This work is one of the illustrations of the “plastic alphabet” but also has a hidden meaning. Indeed, it transcribes a musical score, a Bach fugue. The work keeps a part of mystery because the artist did not deliver his code to pass from the score to the visual work.

MAJUS, Victor Vasarely, 1964, 576×576 cm