Bridget Riley and the Op Art movement

Bridget Riley, born in London in 1931, is a British painter who focuses on geometric shape and form. She spent her early childhood in Cornwall due to the second world war. The countryside’s imagery such as cloud watching and shifting light throughout the day heavily influenced her early years work. Later she attended Cheltenham Ladies college then Goldsmiths College of Art at UAL (1949-1952) where she met other artists such as Frank Auerbach and Peter Blake.  A turning point in Riley’s career was when she visited the exhibition of abstract Expressionist Painters at The Tate in London. She returned to painting exploring Matisse and Binard’s technique.

‘Green Dominance’ and ‘Blue Dominance’ featured in our previous exhibition ‘An Extraordinary Collection’

After a brief stint in teaching she became a commercial illustrator, then going on to embrace form follows function taught at Bauhaus, becoming an early influence for her Op art Style. She began her artistic journey working in black and white however, later, in 1967 she began her colour experiments.

Riley then founded SPACE, an artist organisation that assisted artists to locate studio space, with Peter Sedgley (her partner at that time) and Peter Townsend (a journalist). By doing this she helped to foster a creative community.


‘Places For Change’, 2009, Screenprint on paper

Riley has been known to explore many different abstract art styles but “Places For Change” displays her most famous art style; optical art imagery. It is composed of a series of diamonds edged and other organic tessellating shapes which seem to undulate and flow across the canvas. Riley intentionally uses complementary and contrasting colour theory to mimic organic form with irregular shapes.

Riley’s exploitation of optical illusions make her 2D canvases move, vibrate and sparkle so the viewer can reflect on how they feel physically when observing. This was the main goal of the optical art movement, which became popular in the 1960’s through the works of Riley, Victor Vasarely and Richard Anuskiewicz.

In order to explore the psychological and physical responses of the eye, Riley experiments with striped, squares, oval and curves in across her bodies of work. She is grounded in her own optical experiences rather than colour theories, maths or science. Her legacy continues as an icon, not just of Op art but also of contemporary British Painting. The groundbreakingly win of the painting prize at the Venice Beanale in 1968, was the first of any woman to acheive this award. As well as this, her impact in the abstract geometry has been credited by the art world moreover.

‘Blue Dominance’ & ‘Green Dominance’, 1977, Screenprint on paper

The idea of how we perceive colours and line are developed through the ‘Dominance’ series’ vibrance and movement.

“The pleasures of sight have one characteristic in common – they take you by surprise. They are sudden, swift and unexpected.”
— Bridget Riley
Carla Nizzola