Jesús Rafael Soto (Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela, 1923 - Paris, France, 2005)
Jesús Rafael Soto was a Venezuelan pioneer of kinetic and optical art and one of the most influential figures in postwar abstraction. After moving to Paris in 1950, he became closely associated with Galerie Denise René and participated in the landmark exhibition Le Mouvement (1955), which positioned him at the forefront of the international kinetic avant-garde.
Soto’s work explores vibration, optical instability, and the dematerialization of the art object through the viewer’s movement. His innovative environments, particularly the immersive Pénétrables, redefined the relationship between spectator, space, and perception, making him a central reference in twentieth-century conceptual and experiential art.
His work is held in major museum collections, including MoMA in New York, Tate Modern in London, Centre Pompidou in Paris, Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid, and the Jesús Rafael Soto Museum of Modern Art in Ciudad Bolívar, as well as many other public and private collections worldwide. Soto remains a foundational figure in Latin American abstraction and international kinetic art.
