Jesús Rafael Soto

In the work of Jesús-Rafael Soto, movement takes shape through the viewer’s own experience: his works engage the gaze and, at times, prompt the viewer to move. In 1953, he explores three-dimensionality by superimposing two layers of painted Plexiglas, whose appearance seems to change as the viewer moves. In 1957, he creates the first works in the Vibrations series: metal wires or found materials stand out against a black-and-white striped background, where a moiré effect occurs. From 1967 onwards, his first Pénétrables combine metal rods and suspended nylon threads; the public is invited to enter the work and move within it.

His training begins in Caracas, where a scholarship enables him to study art and art history at the School of Plastic and Applied Arts from September 1942. There, he studies painting with Antonio Edmundo Monsanto and meets Carlos Cruz Diez, Alejandro Otero and Pascual Navarro. After his studies, he directs the School of Fine Arts in Maracaibo from 1947 to 1950. In 1950, a scholarship takes him to Paris, where he meets, among others, Venezuelan artists from the group Los Disidentes. In 1955, he takes part in the group exhibition Le Mouvement, held at the Galerie Denise René in Paris.

His first major solo exhibitions take place at the Kunsthalle Bern in 1968 and then at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in 1969. Further exhibitions follow that same year at the Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris, then at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 1974 and the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo in Caracas in 1983. In 1973, with the support of architect Carlos Raúl Villanueva, Soto establishes the Museo de Arte Moderno Jesús Soto in Ciudad Bolívar. The museum is intended to house his collection of geometric and kinetic works and also holds numerous works by the artist.

Works recorded at auction

Artcurial Beurret Bailly Widmer · Lot 139

Escultura amarilla, 1969

Acryl auf Holz, Metall, farbige Metallstäbe, Nylonfäden und Metallstangen

Catalogue period : 2026-06-24

Published result : 45729 CHF

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : CHF 25000–35000

View the lot at the auction house ↗