Bridget Riley’s intricate, stylish geometric abstractions helped pioneer the Op Art movement in the 1960s. The British painter arrayed colorful shapes across her canvases in a way that induced the appearance of vibration or movement; such optical effects gave Op Art its name. Though Riley created some black-and-white canvases early in her career, she is better known for compositions that feature jubilant hues. Riley studied at Goldsmiths’ College and the Royal College of Art and worked briefly in advertising before transitioning to full-time artmaking. She has exhibited in London, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Shanghai, Tokyo, and Hong Kong, among many other cities. Her work belongs in the collections of institutions including Arts Council England, the Centre Pompidou, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Tate, and the Stedelijk Museum and has fetched millions of dollars on the secondary market.

Bridget Riley’s intricate geometric abstractions helped define the Op Art movement of the 1960s, a moment in which perception itself became the subject of artistic inquiry. Through rhythmic arrangements of lines, curves, and vibrant colour sequences, Riley engineered optical effects that create the sensation of vibration, expansion, or movement across the surface of the canvas. While her early black-and-white works introduced these perceptual phenomena with striking clarity, she is best known today for her jubilant colour compositions, where precise chromatic relationships generate shifting visual experiences. Riley studied at Goldsmiths’ College and the Royal College of Art and briefly worked in advertising before committing fully to painting. Over the decades she has exhibited internationally in London, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Shanghai, Tokyo, and Hong Kong. Her work forms part of major institutional collections including Arts Council England, the Centre Pompidou, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tate, and the Stedelijk Museum, and her paintings and prints continue to achieve millions on the secondary market.

## About Bridget Riley

Born in 1931 in London and raised partly in Cornwall during the Second World War, Riley developed a deep sensitivity to light, landscape, and visual sensation from a young age. After studying at Goldsmiths’ College and then the Royal College of Art, she spent several years working in commercial advertising, honing her eye for clarity and precision. By the late 1950s and early 1960s she began producing the works that would define her early career: black-and-white optical paintings that invited perceptual instability, generating waves, pulsations, and illusions of depth.

Riley’s breakthrough came with her inclusion in the 1965 exhibition The Responsive Eye at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, which positioned her as a leading figure in Op Art. Since then she has continued to expand her visual vocabulary, moving into colour-based abstraction that explores rhythm, repetition, and the psychology of seeing. Her career spans more than six decades and is celebrated for its intellectual rigour, formal beauty, and ongoing exploration of perception.


Bridget Riley

British

Main

Artist

Printer

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Places for Change