Bridget Riley (b. 1931, London) is one of the most celebrated figures in contemporary art, renowned for her pioneering role in the Op Art movement. Across a career spanning more than six decades, she has continually redefined the language of abstraction, transforming simple shapes, lines, and colors into dynamic visual experiences that seem to shift, pulse, and vibrate before the viewer’s eyes.
Riley first gained international attention in the 1960s with her striking black and white paintings, where tightly calibrated patterns created illusions of movement and depth. Her canvases did not simply depict motion , they invited viewers to experience it physically, as if vision itself were in flux. From this groundbreaking work emerged her lifelong investigation into how perception, rhythm, and color interact.
By the late 1960s, Riley expanded her practice into vivid color, developing a vocabulary that harnessed contrasts and harmonies with extraordinary precision. Each series reflects both rigorous discipline and a deep sensitivity to sensation, drawing inspiration from sources as varied as Seurat’s pointillism, Egyptian art, and the play of light in nature.
Over the years, Riley’s work has been exhibited in major museums and institutions worldwide, and she has received numerous honors, including the Praemium Imperiale for Painting (2003) and the Order of Merit (2012). Yet despite such recognition, her art resists easy classification: it remains alive, always shifting in the eye of the beholder, reminding us that seeing is never passive.
Today, Bridget Riley’s practice continues to resonate with new generations of artists and audiences alike. Her paintings are not just objects to look at, but experiences to enter—an invitation to explore the possibilities of vision itself.