Influenced by his upbringing in Judaism as well as the teachings of the Bauhaus, Yaacov Agam is a pioneer of kinetic art as well as the Op art movement and is often credited with introducing geometric abstraction to his home country of Israel.
Born in Rishon LeZion, Palestine — now part of Israel — the son of a rabbi, Agam found that the spiritual world had a major influence on his art practice, as did the sand dunes he grew up watching as they constantly shifted with the wind. This perpetual movement would inform his work, whereby riveting, prismatic compositions that transform from different perspectives, patterns that generate optical effects and sculptures that move with a passing breeze all reflect the gradual changes in nature.
Agam studied with Israeli painter Mordecai Ardon at the Bezalel School of Art in Jerusalem in the 1940s before traveling to Zurich where he trained with Swiss Expressionist painter Johannes Itten and was inspired by the abstract work of Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky.
One of the innovative techniques Agam developed was the Agamograph, which uses lenticular printing so that multiple images, which are revealed as the viewer moves around the piece, can be seen on a single work. His art has regularly involved the spectator as a participant, whether it’s the 1972–74 room-size kinetic installation he created for the Elysée Palace that’s now in the Centre Pompidou in which a gleaming abstract sculpture is surrounded on all sides by polychromatic lines or it’s public art like the 1986 Fire and Water Fountain in Tel Aviv with circles of vibrant panels that offer varying colors from every angle.
In 2018, the Yaacov Agam Museum of Art opened in Rishon LeZion, showcasing six decades of Agam’s influential work that engages with perception through color, shape and form, from paintings, prints and installations to new experiments in interactive digital art.
Find a collection of Yaacov Agam art today on 1stDibs.
$109,743
Image externe-interne by Yaacov Agam, 1964, Acrylic on mobile coloured slats
By Yaacov Agam
Located in London, GB
Yaacov Agam Image externe-interne, 1964-1966 Acrylic on mobile coloured slats; artist's frame Signature on the reverse 54 x 148.6 cm 21 1/4 x 58 1/2 in
Acrylic
$37,038Sale Price|50% Off
Tactile Bleu - Mixed, Media, Oil on board with springs, 40 painted metal discs
By Yaacov Agam
Located in London, GB
Yaacov Agam Tactile Bleu, 1964 Oil on board with springs and 40 painted metal discs Signed and titled 55.9 x 78.7 x 2.5 cm 22 x 31 x 1 in
Metal
Colorful Kinetic original oil on wood round painting by Yaacov Agam
By Yaacov Agam
Located in Jerusalem, IL
This mesmerizing kinetic piece by Yaacov Agam exemplifies his pioneering approach to visual perception and movement. the work is constructed with a dynamic, circular structure that ...
Wood, Oil
Image au Carre, Geometric Kinetic Painting by Yaacov Agam
By Yaacov Agam
Located in Long Island City, NY
"Image au Carre" or "Square Image" is an original painting on linen mounted to wood by Israeli Kinetic artist, Yaacov Agam. The painting is signed, titled and dated verso and signed/...
Wood, Acrylic
$935
H 20 in W 16 in
In My White Boots - Colorful Abstract Feminine Figurative Still Life Art
By Courtney Simone
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Southern California native Courtney Simone seamlessly blends her passion for abstract art with the exploration of everyday beauty, resulting in exuberantly inspired abstract figurati...
Canvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic
$6,500
H 23 in W 24 in
Katherine Bowling American Oil Painting 1989 Atmospheric Abstract Landscape
By Katherine Bowling
Located in Buffalo, NY
An evocative oil painting by Katherine Bowling, completed in 1989. Executed on spackle over wood, this atmospheric composition reveals Bowling’s distinctive technique of layering thi...
Wood, Oil
Rising Tondo, circular
By Ilya Bolotowsky
Located in New York, NY
Ilya Bolotowsky is an important and highly recognized hard edge american abstractionist. He experimented with diamond shaped canvases and circular works as well as square formats wi...
Wood, Acrylic
$575,000
H 79.875 in W 59.75 in D 6.5 in
Negro y Color (Black and Color) - Abstract Op Art, 1995
By Jesús Rafael Soto
Located in Palm Desert, CA
Jesús Rafael Soto's Negro y Color (Black and Color) (1995) extends the principles of his Ambivalencias series into the artist's mature late work. Begun in the late 1970s as an evolut...
Metal
$1,275
H 16 in W 18 in D 2 in
Antique American New England Fall Impressionist Framed Signed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Impressive early American impressionist landscape painting by Will S. Taylor (Born 1882). Oil on board. Framed. Signed. Image size, 12 by 13 inches.
Oil, Masonite
Geometric Abstract Original Oil on Canvas 1980s
Located in Soquel, CA
Geometric Abstract Original Oil on Canvas 1980s This unknown artist expertly explores the tension between bold physical presence and quiet, open space. Dominated by deep, matte black...
Canvas, Oil
$4,200
H 23.5 in W 36 in D 2.5 in
Turnabout: Abstract Geometric 3D Wooden Wall Sculpture in Green, Grey & Beige
By Stephen Walling
Located in Hudson, NY
Abstract geometric three-dimensional wood wall sculpture in bright pastel hues of sage green, light grey, and beige "Turnabout", hand-carved wooden wall sculpture by Hudson Valley ar...
Wood, Dye, Acrylic, Wood Panel
Untitled
By Michael Kessler
Located in Buffalo, NY
Kessler makes nature-based paintings that merge geometric elements with biomorphism. He began his art career as a landscape painter. While still an undergraduate at Kutztown Universi...
Oil, Paper, Wood
$3,900
H 24 in W 42 in D 2 in
Piquant: Abstract Geometric 3D Wooden Wall Sculpture in Red, Pink, Peach, Maroon
By Stephen Walling
Located in Hudson, NY
Abstract geometric three-dimensional wood wall sculpture in bright hues of red, peach, pink, maroon, white and beige Piquant, hand-carved wooden wall sculpture by Hudson Valley artis...
Wood, Dye, Acrylic, Wood Panel
$2,175
H 48 in W 24 in
Island Life - Abstract Colorful Feminine Figurative Acrylic Artwork Beach Scene
By Courtney Simone
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Southern California native Courtney Simone seamlessly blends her passion for abstract art with the exploration of everyday beauty, resulting in exuberantly inspired abstract figurati...
Canvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic
$3,600
H 35 in W 24 in D 2.5 in
Peekin (Colorful Abstract Geometric Wood Wall Sculpture in Blue, Green & White)
By Stephen Walling
Located in Hudson, NY
Abstract geometric three-dimensional wood wall sculpture in shades of blue, green, teal, with contrasts of white "Peekin", made by Hudson Valley artist, Stephen Walling, in 2020 35 x...
Wood, Acrylic, Wood Panel
$1,475
H 24 in W 30 in
Held By Stillness - Colorful Abstract Feminine Figurative Landscape Art
By Courtney Simone
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Southern California native Courtney Simone seamlessly blends her passion for abstract art with the exploration of everyday beauty, resulting in exuberantly inspired abstract figurati...
Canvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic
LOVE STAR OF DAVID
By Yaacov Agam
Located in Aventura, FL
Original gouache painting on paper. Hand signed lower front by Yaacov Agam. Image size 20.25 x 18.5 inches. Sheet size 29 x 22.2 inches. Frame size approx 33 x 31 inches. Cert...
Paper, Gouache
Yaacov Agam, Fascination, Prismograph
By Yaacov Agam
Located in Tel Aviv, IL
Yaacov Agam,Fascination, Prismograph, Op art, Colored work, International artist, Israeli artist, Israeli art. Op art pioneer Yaacov Agam’s abstract artworks—which range from paint...
Plywood
Sold
H 31.3 in W 41.93 in D 2.37 in
One and Another - Kinetic Op Art Serigraph Signed & Numbered by Yaacov Agam
By Yaacov Agam
Located in Atlanta, GA
Original Op Art artwork serigraph (silkscreen print on paper) by Yaacov Agam titled "One and Another" from the same name collection. This fantasy optical illusion art by Agam, with m...
Parchment Paper, Ink
Blue/Violet #8
By Yaacov Agam
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Yaacov Agam, Israeli (1928 - ) Title: Blue/Violet #8 Year: circa 1990 Medium: Unique Silkscreen on Canvas Mounted to Board, Signed lower center Size: 18 x 20 inches Fram...
Acrylic, Screen