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Biography

CARLOS CRUZ-DIEZ
[1923, Venezuela - 2019, France]

Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Carlos Cruz-Diez first studied art at the Escuela de Artes Plásticas y Artes Aplicadas de Caracas from 1940 to 1945. While studying there, he participated in a lively discussion group, which included artists Jesús Rafael Soto and Alejandro Otero, key figures of the Venezuelan kinetic art movement. He also was influenced by his study of impressionism, especially as it applied to experiments with color. In his earliest work, Cruz-Diez painted figurative canvases intended to reflect and comment upon social issues. In 1954, influenced by his study of the Bauhaus and European avant-gardes, Cruz-Diez created his first abstract and interactive project. A year later, he began a series of Objetos rítmicos móviles that consisted of multicolored, movable figures made from wood, and, in 1957, he began experimenting with colored light. His first Physichromie—translated as "physical color" (these works explore the physical dimension of color)—was made in 1959. The following year, Cruz-Diez and his family moved to Paris, where he met Argentine artist Luis Tomasello and members of the Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel (GRAV), and he quickly became an important member of the artistic communities there. 

In 1971, Cruz-Diez established his workshop on the rue Pierre Semard, in a former Belle Epoque-era butcher’s shop. From that workshop, he pursued his explorations of color and light with Physichromie, Chromosaturation, Chromointerférence, and large-scale public projects, all of which were developed as investigations into visual and perceptual experiences of color. Other lines of research he pursued were Couleur Additive, Induction Chromatique, Transchromie, Chromoscope, and Couleur à l’Espace. The artist describes his Chromosaturation series as the exploration of an often-unnoticed reality: “That reality (which I consider visible) leads us along other paths, both perceptive and sensory, to parallel ideas of beauty and sublimation.” Cruz-Diez is internationally considered a master artist of the 20th and 21st centuries for his contributions to the theory and practice of color. The documentary Free Color (2020), directed by Alberto Arvelo, tells the story of Cruz-Diez’s life and follows along as he embarked on the most ambitious work of his career.

Cruz-Diez’s works have been shown in numerous important solo exhibitions, including (In)formed by Color: Carlos Cruz-Diez, Americas Society (AS), New York City, New York, USA (2008); Carte Blanche, Galerie Denise René, Paris, France (2007); Environment Chromatic-Interferences,Guangdong Museum of Art (GDMoA), Guangzhou, China (2010); Latin American Art, Hayward Gallery, London, England, UK and Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden (1989);

Carlos Cruz-Diez: Didaktik und Dialektik der Farbe, Das kleine Museum – Kultur auf der Peunt, Weissenstadt, Germany (2015); Cruz-Diez en noir et blanc, Maison de l’Amérique Latine, Paris, France (2014); Cruz-Diez. Color-Arcontecimiento, Museo de Arte Costarricense (MAC), San José, Costa Rica (1991); Carlos Cruz-Diez: Color in Space and Time, Museo de Arte de Lima (MALI), Peru, Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA), Argentina, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), Texas, USA, and Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, Brazil (2011); Cruz-Diez: El Color Autónomo, Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá (MAMBO), Colombia (1998); Cruz-Diez, Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellín (MAMM), Colombia (1985); Apuntes sobre el Color,Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela (1993); Cruz-Diez. Afiches. Exposición Homenaje a los 80 Años de Carlos Cruz-Diez, El Museo de la Estampa y del Diseño Carlos Cruz-Diez, Caracas, Venezuela (2003); The Weight of Form: The Graphic Design of Carlos Cruz-Diez, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS), Madrid, Spain (2021); Carlos Cruz-Diez. Mastering Colour,Puerta Roja, Hong Kong (2017); and Réalités de la Peinture, The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, Russia (1989), among others.

Cruz-Diez’s works are represented in several major collections including Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, France; Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, Texas, USA; Centre National d’Art Contemporain (CNAC), Paris, France; Centre Pompidou, Paris, France; Essex Collection of Art from Latin America (ESCALA), Colchester, England, UK; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC, USA; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark; Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris (MAM Paris), France; Musée de Grenoble, France; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Bogotá (MAC), Colombia; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas (MACC), Venezuela; Museo de Arte Costarricense (MAC), San José, Costa Rica; Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellín (MAMM), Colombia; Museo de Arte Moderno Jesús Soto, Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela; Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela; Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende (MSSA), Santiago, Chile; Museo La Tertulia, Cali, Colombia; Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro (MAM Rio), Brazil; Museum für Konkrete Kunst (MKK), Ingolstadt, Germany; The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles, California, USA; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), Texas, USA; Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, New York, USA; Palm Springs Art Museum, California, USA; Tate Modern, London, England, UK; Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), London, England, UK; and Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne, Germany.

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Selected Solo Exhibitions

2024
RGB, the Colors of the Century, Hangaram Art Museum, Seoul, South Korea

2023 
Carlos Cruz-Diez: A Legacy in Color, Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino, Houston, TX, USA
L’Euforia del Colore, Galleria Continua, San Gimignano, Italy

2022    
The Euphoria of Colour, Galleria Continua, Burj Al Arab Jumeirah, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Carlos Cruz-Diez: Chromosaturation, Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), FL, USA
Color and Line in Motion, Galería RGR+ART, Mexico City, Mexico
Carlos Cruz-Diez: Inter Lineas, Galerie Valérie Bach: La Patinoire Royale, Brussels, Belgium 

2021    
Carlos Cruz-Diez: Chromointerferent Environment, Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino, Houston, TX, USA
Carlos Cruz-Diez: Chromosaturation, Expo 2020 Dubai, The Grand Paris Express, France Pavilion, Paris, France

2019    
Semana Cruz-Diez, Caracas, Venezuala
Carlos Cruz-Diez, Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino, Houston, TX, USA
Labyrinthus, Galerie Valérie Bach: La Patinoire Royale, Brussels, Belgium
Cruz-Diez, Hommage à la Couleur, Galerie Denise René, Paris, France
Cruz-Diez: a liberdade da Cor, Espaço Cultural Porto Seguro, São Paulo, Brazil
Cruz-Diez, El Color Haciéndose, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (MAC) Panamá, Panamá City, Panamá

2018    
Carlos Cruz-Diez Autonomía del Color, Galería RGR+ART, Mexico City, Mexico
Spatial Chromointerference, Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern, Houston, TX, USA

2017    
Carlos Cruz-Diez Autonomía del Color, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX, USA
Carlos Cruz-Diez, Mastering Colour, Puerta Roja Gallery, Hong Kong, China
Carlos Cruz-Diez, Galerie Boisséree, Germany, Cologne
Chroma, Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) Museum of Art, GA, USA
Showroom: Vivir en una obra de arte, Odalys Galería de Arte, Madrid, Spain

2016    
Carlos Cruz-Diez: Intégrations dans l’Architecture, Barnes International Realty, Paris, France
Efímeras, La Caja, Centro Cultural Chacao, Caracas, Venezuela
Cruz-Diez: du Statique au Dynamique, Galerie Denise René; Espace Marais, Rive Gauche, Paris, France
Carlos Cruz-Diez: Un etre flottant, Galerie Mitterrand, Paris France 

2015    
Carlos Cruz-Diez, Transfiguration de la couleur, Marlborough Monaco, Principality of Monaco
Carlos Cruz-Diez: A Chromatic Condition, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX, USA
Didáctica y dialéctica del color, Galería de Arte de la Biblioteca, Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas, Venezuela
Chromatic Transfiguration, Maxwell Davidson Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Carlos Cruz-Diez: Didaktik und Dialektik der Farbe, Das Kleine Museum, Weissenstadt, Germany
Carlos Cruz-Diez, Graphicart, Caracas, Venezuela

Cruz-Diez: Bidimensional Research 1959-2015, Espace Expression, Miami, FL, USA
Carlos Cruz-Diez vuelve a Caracas, Galería Freites, Caracas, Venezuela
Atrapando el Color, Museo de la Estampa y del Diseño Carlos Cruz-Diez, Caracas, Venezuela
Cromointerferencias, Marión Gallery, Panama, Republic of Panama

2014    
Cruz-Diez en noir et blanc, Maison de l’Amérique Latine, Paris, France
Circonstance et Ambiguïté de la Couleur, Fondation Vasarely, Aix-en-Provence, France
Didactic and Dialectic of Color, Casa Daros, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 

2013    
Carlos Cruz-Diez, Light Show, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, London, UK

2012    
Carlos Cruz-Diez, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX, USA
Carlos Cruz-Diez: Circumstance and Ambiguity of Color, Jiangsu Provincial Art Museum, Nanjing, China and Henan Art Museum, Zhengzhou, China
Carlos Cruz-Diez: Color in Space, Jeonbuk Province Art Museum, Jeonbuk, South Korea; Dream Forest Arts Center, Sang Sang Tok Tok Gallery, Seoul, South Korea

2011      
Carlos Cruz-Diez: Color in Space and Time, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), TX, USA; Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA), Argentina; Museo de Arte de Lima, Peru; Pinacoteca de Estado de São Paulo, Brazil

2010    
Carlos Cruz-Diez: The Embodied Experience of Color, Miami Art Museum, FL, USA
Environment Chromatic-Interferences, Guangdong Museum of Art, China
Circonstance et Ambiguite de la Couleur, Galerie Denise René, Espace Marais, Paris, France

2009    
Carlos Cruz-Diez. El Color Sucede, Museu d’Art Espanyol Cotemporani, Palma, Spain; Museo de Arte Abstracto Español, Cuenca, Spain

2008    
(In)formed by Color: Carlos Cruz-Diez, Americas Society, New York, NY, USA

2007    
Carte Blanche, Denise René Gallery, Paris, France
La Couleur Dans L’Espace, Maison de l’Amerique llatine, Paris, France
Carlos Cruz-Diez, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX, USA
Carlos Cruz-Diez, Gabinete de Arte Raquel Arnaud, São Paulo, Brazil

2006    
Volume réel, couleur virtuelle, Maison des Arts, Châtillon, France
Certain 50 x 50, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Sala Trasnocho Arte Contacto TAC, Caracas, Venezuela
Carlos Cruz-Diez: Die farbe im raum, Galerie Konkret Martin Worn, Sulzburg, Germany; Galerie Emilia Suciu, Ausstellungsdauer, Germany
Hommage a Cruz-Diez, Stand Meyer-Zafra, Paris, France
La Vida en el Color, Galería Fundación Previsora, Caracas, Venezuela

2005    
Carlos Cruz-Diez: Interactive Random Chromatic Experience, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX, USA
22 of the future for the future of Vukovar, Muzeum Sztukiw Lodzi, Vukovar, Poland
Universe Sprit du Geometrie, The Museum of Geometric and MADI Art, Dallas, TX, USA

2004    
Cruz-Diez, Arte en Guri, Museo de la Estampa y del Diseño Carlos Cruz-Diez, Caracas, Venezuela

2003    
Cruz-Diez, Afiches, Exposición Homenaje a los 80 Años de Carlos Cruz-Diez, Museo de la Estampa y del Diseño Carlos Cruz-Diez, Caracas, Venezuela

1999    
Retrospectiva 1954-1998, Museo de Arte Moderno del Zulia, Maracaibo, Venezuela

1998    
Cruz-Diez: El Color Autónomo, Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá, Colombia
Carlos Cruz-Diez, Museo de Arte Moderno Jesús Soto, Sala Múltiple, Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela
Carlos Cruz-Diez, Un Pionero del Diseñoen Venezuela, De la Empresa Familiar a la Invención de la Fisicromía, 1923-1959, Museo de la Estampa y del Diseño Carlos Cruz-Diez, Consejo Nacional de la Cultura (CONAC), Caracas, Venezuela
Carlos Cruz-Diez “…und gebe dem Raum die Farbe,” Städtishcen Museum, Gelsenkirchen-Buer, Germany

1995    
Reflexión sobre el Color, Museo Jacobo Borges, Caracas, Venezuela

1994    
Cromosaturación, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Metamorfosis de lo Efímero, Paneles Pictórios y Laberinto Sensorial, Museo de Arte Moderno, Plaza de la Cultura Juan Pablo Duarte, Santo Domino, Dominican Republic

1993    
Apuntes sobre el Color, Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela

1992    
Carlos Cruz-Diez, La Visión del Color, Museo de Arte de Maracay, Venezuela

1991    
Carlos Cruz-Diez, Paris, Couleurs Additives, Sowie Ankäufe us den Jahren 1987-1990, Museum Moderner Kunst Landkreis Cuxhaven, Otterndorf, Germany
Cruz-Diez, Color-Arcontecimiento, Museo de Arte Costarricense y Galería Nacional de Arte Contemporáneo, San José, Costa Rica
Cruz-Diez, Inducciones Cromáticas, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Espacio Simonetti, Valencia, Venezuela

1989    
Realites de la Peinture, The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow & Leningrad, Russia
Latin American Art, Hayward Gallery, London, UK; National Museum + Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden; Palacio Velazquez, Madrid, Spain

1988    
Carlos Cruz-Diez, Die Autonomie der Farbe, Bilders – Plastiken – Objekte aus den Jahren 1959-1988, Josef Albers Museum Quadrat Bottrop, Moderne Galerie, Bottrop, Germany

1985    
Cruz-Diez, Museo de Arte Moderno, Medellín, Colombia

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Selected Public Collections

Arithmeum, University of Bonn, Germany

Banco Central de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela

Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France

Bibliotheque Nationale, Zagreb, Croatia

Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX, USA

Cabinet des Estampes, Geneva, Switzerland

Casa de las Américas, Havana, Cuba

Centre de la Gravure et de l’Image Imprimee, Belgium

Centre National d’Art Contemporain Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France

Collection of Latin American Art, University of Essex, Colchester, UK

Denver Art Museum, CO, USA

Erling Neby Collection, Oslo, Norway

Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge University, UK

Galería de Arte Nacional (GAN), Caracas, Venezuela

Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (GAM), Turin, Italy

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C., USA

Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), Dublin, Ireland

Kunsthalle Messmer, Riegel am Kaiserstuhl, Germany

Kunsthalle Würth Museum, Schwäbisch Hall, Germany

Kunstmuseum, Bern, Switzerland

Kunstverein Gelsenkirchen, Germany

Musée d'art contemporain de Lyon (MAC Lyon), France

Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal, Canada

Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France

Musée de Grenoble, France

Musée de la Chaux-des-Fonds, Switzerland

Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, Quebec, Canada

Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Atchugarry (MACA), Punta del Este, Uruguay

Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Buenos Aires (MACBA), Argentina

Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Sofia Imber, Caracas, Venezuela

Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Bogotá, Colombia

Museo de Arte Costarricense, San José, Costa Rica

Museo de Arte Moderno “Jesús Soto,” Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela

Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellín, Colombia

Museo de Arte Moderno, “La Tertulia,” Cali, Colombia

Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela

Museo de la Estampa y del Diseño Carlos Cruz-Diez, Caracas, Venezuela

Museo de la Solidaridad, Salvador Allende, Santiago de Chile

Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Museum des 20, Jahrhundert, Vienna, Austria

Museum für Konkrete Kunst, Ingolstadt, Germany

Museum im Kulturspeicher Würzburg, Northern Bavaria, Germany

Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien (MUMOK), Vienna, Austria

Museum Moderner Kunst, Cuxhaven Otterndorf, Germany

Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany

Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD Museum), Providence, RI, USA

Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), The University of Sydney (JW Power Collection), Australia

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), TX, USA

Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA), Long Beach, CA, USA

Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, NY, USA

Muzeum Okregowe, Chelm, Poland

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, USA

Neue Pinakothek, Munich, Germany

Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, CA, USA

Quadrat Josef Albers Museum, Bottrop, Germany

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), CA, USA

Santa Barbara Museum of Art (SBMA), CA, USA

Sonja Henie-Musee d’Art Moderne, Hovikodden, Oslo, Norway

Städtische Kunsthalle, Mannheim, Germany

Tate Gallery, Millbank, London, UK

Tate Modern, London, UK

The Geffen Contemporary at The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles, CA, USA

The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles, CA, USA

The Museum of Modern Art, Sydney, Australia

The Museum of Modern Art, Taipei, Taiwan

Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

University of Houston, Collection of Public Art of the University of Houston System, TX, USA

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK

Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Dr. Peter Ludwig Collection, Cologne, Germany