Jesús Rafael Soto — Fines vibrations en bleu et noir (1974)

Jesús Rafael Soto (1923–2005) is one of the central figures of international kinetic and optical art. A protagonist of both the Latin American and the European kinetic movement, he redefined the work of art as a perceptual experience grounded in vibration, visual instability and the active involvement of the viewer. After moving to Paris in the 1950s he entered into dialogue with artists such as Vasarely and Calder, developing a rigorous, immediately recognisable language built on rhythm, seriality and real or perceived movement. His work is held by the MoMA, the Centre Pompidou, Tate Modern and the Guggenheim.

Fines vibrations en bleu et noir (1974) belongs to the full maturity of Soto's research into vibrational effects and the dissolution of the painted surface into optical phenomenon. The composition is built on a rigorous chromatic grid, crossed by thin movable elements that alter perception continuously as the viewing point shifts. The dialogue between blue and black, together with the nylon threads and the metal components, generates a vibration that leaves the image unstable and dynamic: not a picture to contemplate, but a perceptual field to move through with the eye. Works of this type are among the most representative and historically significant of his production in the 1970s.

The work is authenticated by Hélène Soto, the artist's widow and head of the Soto archive in Paris, who confirms its autography and its inclusion in the catalogue raisonné currently in preparation. Condition has been examined by restorer Celeste Cagnone (Milan), specialist in modern and contemporary painting: the report records no restoration to the painted surface under UV examination, slight surface marks and minimal opacities consistent with the natural ageing of the work, and generally good, stable condition compatible with museum standards.