Art Movements: Op Art

Op Art is a style of non-objective abstract art, featuring optical illusions and ambiguities, that rose to prominence in the 1960s. While artists had long been drawn to investigations of optical effects, new advancements in technology and the psychology of perception gave rise to a concentrated period of exploration in this area.

Op art was a major development of painting in the 1960s that used geometric forms to create optical effects.

Artists have been intrigued by the nature of perception and by optical effects and illusions for many centuries. They have often been a central concern of art, just as much as themes drawn from history or literature. But in the 1950s these preoccupations, allied to new interests in technology and psychology, blossomed into a movement.

A Credo Reference landing page on op art. This page includes links to reference works, journal articles, and a mind map.

In the 1960s, Pop art, Op art, and minimalism brought yet another far-reaching redefinition of art. Learn to recognize these three distinct postmodern visions, and see how they shared a common rejection of the traditional focus on the artist, aiming instead to create works that exist only for the viewer's interpretation.