Julio Le Parc

With a prolific career spanning more than six decades, Julio Le Parc (Mendoza, Argentina, 1928 – Paris, France, 2026) was one of the most recognizable and pioneering figures in the fields of kinetic and op art. Based in Paris since the mid-twentieth century, he developed a fruitful career through vibrant works and immersive installations created from rigorous systems of composition and the correlation of forms.

Alongside his shared reflections with fellow artists, Le Parc developed a pioneering body of work in the realm of kinetic and optical art, undertaking investigations into the instability of perception that gave rise to important works involving light and movement.

From the outset of his career, and as a founding member of the influential Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel (GRAV) in 1960, alongside Horacio Garcia Rossi, Francisco Sobrino, François Morellet, Joël Stein and Jean-Pierre Vasarely (Yvaral), Le Parc applied organizational principles to his paintings, ranging from the use of fourteen colour scales to infinite and rigorous combinations of black, white and grey. Through optical devices involving sequences, rotations and progressions, he placed the viewer at the centre of the artistic experience, inviting them to revitalize their capacity to look, react, reflect, compare and create.

Julio Le Parc was the subject of solo exhibitions at institutions including the Met Museum, New York; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Tabakalera, San Sebastián; Pérez Art Museum, Miami; Serpentine Gallery, London; Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City; and Moderna Museet, Stockholm, among many others. His constant spirit of experimentation earned him distinctions including the International Grand Prize for Painting at the 33rd Venice Biennale in 1966.

His work was featured in group exhibitions on optical and kinetic art at institutions such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; MoMA, New York; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; Grand Palais, Paris; Palazzo Grassi, Venice; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington; and Centre Pompidou, Paris and Metz, among others.

Le Parc’s work forms part of the collections of institutions including MoMA, New York; Tate, London; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA); Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires; and Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Rome, among many others.