Hexa Grace

These blocks of Volvic lava have taken an epic journey. Quarried in the Massif Central mountains, shaped into tiles, and enamelled in Provence, they were finally cut into 24,000 lozenge-shapes in fourteen vibrant colours, adorning 1500 m2 of the roof of the Rainier III Auditorium. The monumental work evokes a recurring form in Vasarely's work. It embodies the artist's key ideas on the integration of plastic beauty into the everyday urban environment.
Named Hexa Grace, in homage to Princess Grace, the work was commissioned by the Monegasque State at the request of Prince Rainier III.

Victor Vasarely was born on 9 April 1908 in Pécs, Hungary. A painter specialising in motion effects and lithography, even trying his hand at film-making, Victor Vasarely was a prolific creative mind whose clever use of multiples earned him international acclaim. His first solo exhibition was held in 1930 in Budapest, and he moved to Paris the same year. Vasarely’s genius lay in his ability to make the very most of his artworks by enlisting the help of numerous collaborators, who worked to his designs. In a way, he was a forerunner of Andy Warhol. It enabled him to reach a vast audience. Thanks to the mass production of “psychedelic” posters in the late 60s, anyone could decorate their walls with his creations. He is considered to be the inventor of “op art”.
In 1964, Vasarely was presented with the Guggenheim International Award, and then in 1965 won the Ljubljana Engraving Grand Prix and the São Paulo Art Biennial Grand Prix. He settled in Gordes, in the Vaucluse, in the 1970s. He died in Paris in 1997.