Yaacov Agam

The works on paper in this gallery are part of three series produced by Artist Yaacov Agam (born in Mandatory Palestine, 1928) in the 1980s and 1990s. They illustrate the artist’s research around color perception and movement after his major retrospectives in Paris (Pompidou Center, 1972) and New York (Guggenheim, 1980).

These series are variations around the theme of perception, part of the artist’s experimentations with perception known as optic art. While two series explore the color repartition on a same grid, one series explores the color through a process of addition, subtraction, and multiplication.

Agam’s work was on view as part of the inaugural show of Palm Springs Desert Museum. This show, which opened on January 24, 1976, drew a large crowd to the museum on opening day. The Palm Springs Desert Museum was renamed in 2005 to Palm Springs Art Museum.