Bridget Riley

Exploring how abstract pattern, colour and form can stimulate the eye, the British artist Bridget Riley is a key figure in the Op Art movement. Her genius lies in her ability to transform deceptively simple shapes and forms into ground-breaking studies in geometry that literally vibrate with power.

Celebrated for her dizzying optical illusions and the way her compositions gradually reveal a vital, dynamic interplay of shape and colour, she has developed one of the most recognisable styles in the art world. “I think my pictures have a paradoxical quality, a paradox of chaos and order in one,” she says.

Born in South London in 1931, Riley studied at Goldsmiths College and the Royal College of Art before going on to teach and work in an advertising agency. Her first solo exhibition in 1962 was held at Gallery One in London. In 1965, she exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in a group show, ‘The Responsive Eye’, which drew worldwide attention to the Op Art movement.

In 1968, Riley represented Great Britain at the 34th Venice Biennale, where she was the first living British painter to win the prestigious International Prize for Painting. Working exclusively in black and white until the late 1960s, the artist shifted her palette to grey and then a vibrant palette of different colours.

Riley’s works are held in numerous museum and public collections worldwide and she continues to exhibit frequently. Working from her studio in London’s East End, she continues to create art today, although the supply of works has significantly decreased. Now in her 90s, there will come a point where the market stops being fed new artworks, which will inevitably increase demand for those in circulation.