# Vera Molnár

> Hungarian-born Paris artist who made computer plotter drawings from 1968, known for (Des)Ordres, Interruptions and Themes and Variations with Martin Grasser.

- Page: https://www.gondi.xyz/artist/vera-moln-r
- Works on GONDI: 514
- Collectors: 264
- About page: https://www.gondi.xyz/artist/vera-moln-r/about

## About

Vera Molnár was a Hungarian-born artist who trained at the art academy in Budapest and settled in Paris in 1947. In 1959 she began making compositions by hand from simple rules she called a "machine imaginaire," an imaginary machine. In the early 1960s she co-founded the Groupe de Recherche d'Art Visuel (GRAV), and in 1967 she founded the group Art et Informatique. In 1968 she gained access to a computer at a university research laboratory in Paris and began drawing with a plotter. The Centre Pompidou calls her the first artist in France to make drawings this way.

Her plotter series work through families of lines and squares. In *(Des)Ordres* (1974) she set her program to disturb rows of concentric squares at random. The V&A holds that series and *Interruptions* (1969), one of her earliest computer drawings. Her work is also held by MoMA, the Centre Pompidou, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, LACMA and the Buffalo AKG Art Museum.

Her first NFTs came in 2022 with Galerie 8+4. [*2% of disorder in co-operation*](https://www.gondi.xyz/collections/vera-molnar-2-of-disorder-in-co-operation.md) marked her 98th birthday: a studio visitor colors one square of a 100-square grid and she answers with a black one. The first of the fourteen sold at Sotheby's that April. In July 2023 Sotheby's sold the 500 works of [*Themes and Variations*](https://www.gondi.xyz/collections/vera-molnar-themes-and-variations.md), made with the artist and coder Martin Grasser. Working with him, she ran her hand-drawn N, F and T letterforms through an algorithm that sets their position, size, weight and color.

The 2022 Venice Biennale gave her early computer works a gallery of their own. Molnár died in Paris on 7 December 2023, at 99. In February 2024 the Centre Pompidou opened a retrospective of her work, *Parler à l'œil*.

## At a glance

- Practice: Computer and algorithmic art, plotter drawing and painting
- In museums: MoMA, Centre Pompidou, V&A, National Gallery of Art, LACMA, Buffalo AKG Art Museum
- Based in: Paris, France
- Active since: 1946
- Education: Art history and aesthetics, Hungarian University of Fine Arts, Budapest (1947)

## Notable works

- 1974: [(Des)Ordres](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1193781/desordres-drawing-vera-molnar)
- 2022: [2% of disorder in co-operation](https://www.gondi.xyz/collections/vera-molnar-2-of-disorder-in-co-operation.md), Galerie 8+4
- 2023: [Themes and Variations, with Martin Grasser](https://www.gondi.xyz/collections/vera-molnar-themes-and-variations.md), Sotheby's
- 1969: [Interruptions](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1193775/interruptions-drawing-molnar-vera)
- 1988: [Letters from my Mother](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O216188)

## In museum collections

- 2020: [Three works: Untitled (1952), 2 Letter Ms (1961) and the plotter drawing Molndrian (1974)](https://www.moma.org/collection/works/417832), Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, NY
- 2002: [2 rectangles bleus, 4 rectangles noirs (1950), a gouache on paper, gift of the artist](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/fr/ressources/oeuvre/cMeeX4R), Centre Pompidou, Paris
- [The plotter drawings Interruptions (1969) and (Des)Ordres (1974), and the screenprint Letters from my Mother (1988)](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1193781/desordres-drawing-vera-molnar), Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), London
- 2018: [Interruptions (1969), a plotter drawing, gift of the artist](https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.216160.html), National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
- 2020: [A la recherche de Paul Klee (1970), a plotter drawing](https://collections.lacma.org/object/253843), Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, CA
- 2023: [Transformation de carrés concentriques (1974), a plotter drawing](https://buffaloakg.org/artworks/p202349-transformation-de-carr%C3%A9s-concentriques-74338143243), Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Buffalo, NY

## Top sales

- 2022: [2% of disorder in co-operation #01](https://www.gondi.xyz/collections/vera-molnar-2-of-disorder-in-co-operation/1.md), Sotheby's, $138,600
- 2022: [(Des)Ordres (1974), nine drawings on one roll](https://phillips.com/detail/vera-molnar/UK090322/22), Phillips, £100,800 (about $120,700)
- 2024: [Themes and Variations #342](https://www.gondi.xyz/collections/vera-molnar-themes-and-variations/342.md), 17 ETH (about $63,000)
- 2024: [Themes and Variations #124](https://www.gondi.xyz/collections/vera-molnar-themes-and-variations/124.md), 14 ETH (about $45,000)
- 2024: [Themes and Variations #444](https://www.gondi.xyz/collections/vera-molnar-themes-and-variations/444.md), 14.5 WETH (about $45,000)
- 2023: [Themes and Variations #295](https://www.gondi.xyz/collections/vera-molnar-themes-and-variations/295.md), 22 ETH (about $44,600)

## Exhibitions

- 2024: [Retrospective: Parler à l'œil](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/fr/programme/agenda/evenement/PA7jRZ5), Centre Pompidou, Paris
- 2022: [The Milk of Dreams, 59th Venice Biennale, with a gallery of her early computer works](https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/vera-molnar-the-grande-dame-of-generative-art), La Biennale di Venezia, Venice
- 2022: [Ex-Machina: A History of Generative Art](https://www.phillips.com/press/release/phillips-announces-exmachina-a-history-of-generative-art), Phillips, London and Paris
- 2015: [Regarding the Infinite: Drawings 1950-1987](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_Moln%C3%A1r), Senior & Shopmaker Gallery, New York
- 2010: [On Line: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_Moln%C3%A1r), Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York
- 1976: [First solo exhibition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_Moln%C3%A1r), London Polytechnic gallery, London

## Recognition

- 2018: [Outstanding Merit Award](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_Moln%C3%A1r), AWARE (Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions)
- 2007: [Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_Moln%C3%A1r), French Ministry of Culture
- 2005: [DAM Digital Arts Award for her life's work](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_Moln%C3%A1r), Digital Art Museum (DAM)

## Collaborations

- 2023: [Themes and Variations, with the artist and coder Martin Grasser: her hand-drawn N, F and T letterforms run through an algorithm](https://www.gondi.xyz/collections/vera-molnar-themes-and-variations.md), Sotheby's
- 2023: [AD.VM.AV.IA, 16 works co-signed with aurèce vettier, selected from 64 AI proposals based on Dürer's Melancholia](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/pompidou-plus/magazine/article/ai-nft-vera-molnar-a-step-ahead)
- 2022: [2% of disorder in co-operation, 14 NFTs made with Galerie 8+4 and visitors to her studio](https://www.gondi.xyz/collections/vera-molnar-2-of-disorder-in-co-operation.md), Galerie 8+4

## Press & resources

- 2024: [Vera Molnár: Parler à l'oeil](https://brooklynrail.org/2024/07/artseen/Vera-Molnr-Parler-loeil/), The Brooklyn Rail
- 2024: [AI, NFT: Vera Molnár, a step ahead](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/pompidou-plus/magazine/article/ai-nft-vera-molnar-a-step-ahead), Centre Pompidou
- 2023: [Vera Molnar, pioneer of computer art, dies at 99](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/12/15/metro/vera-molnar-pioneer-computer-art-dies-99), The Boston Globe (The New York Times)
- 2023: [Vera Molnár, hommage to a pioneer](https://news.artprice.com/en/7139/vera-molnar-hommage-to-a-pioneer), Artprice
- 2023: [From Early Computers to NFTs: Vera Molnàr's Pioneering Art Journey at Sotheby's](https://decrypt.co/150142/from-early-computers-nft-vera-molnar-pioneering-art-journey-sothebys), Decrypt
- 2023: [Sotheby's generative art auction nabs $1.2 million, selling out in less than an hour](https://www.theblock.co/post/241617/sothebys-generative-art-auction-nabs-1-2-million-selling-out-in-less-than-an-hour), The Block
- 2023: [Vera Molnár: The Grande Dame of Generative Art](https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/vera-molnar-the-grande-dame-of-generative-art), Sotheby's

## Milestones

- 1947: [Moves from Hungary to Paris](https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/vera-molnar-the-grande-dame-of-generative-art)
- 1959: [Starts composing with simple rules she calls the machine imaginaire](https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/vera-molnar-the-grande-dame-of-generative-art)
- 1967: [Founds the group Art et Informatique](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/pompidou-plus/magazine/article/ai-nft-vera-molnar-a-step-ahead)
- 1968: [Gets access to a computer at a Paris university laboratory and starts drawing with a plotter](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/12/15/metro/vera-molnar-pioneer-computer-art-dies-99)
- 1976: [First solo exhibition, at the London Polytechnic gallery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_Moln%C3%A1r)
- 2022: [Releases her first NFTs, 2% of disorder in co-operation, with Galerie 8+4 for her 98th birthday](https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2022/natively-digital-1-3-generative-art/2-of-disorder-in-co-operation-01)
- 2023: [Sotheby's sells all 500 works of Themes and Variations in less than an hour](https://www.theblock.co/post/241617/sothebys-generative-art-auction-nabs-1-2-million-selling-out-in-less-than-an-hour), Sotheby's
- 2023: [Dies in Paris on 7 December, at 99](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/12/15/metro/vera-molnar-pioneer-computer-art-dies-99)

## Links

- [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_Moln%C3%A1r)

Data from GONDI (https://www.gondi.xyz), Nov 1, 2026.