46 Paris and Vasarely This is an exceptional start for an artist. A debut in Paris, Vasarely personally paving your way. How overconfident did you become? Oh, very much so. But as I said, it all happened so quickly and so naturally that I took it for granted. At 22, I thought this was how art worked in the West, while back home all I could have had was an exhibition in a small-town art gallery with others. Vasarely then told me to develop for 2-3 more years, to paint large artworks, and then he would organise an exhibition for me, where he would introduce me to the big English, American and French galleries. You were invited to join the world’s artistic elite at the age of 22 and had the honour of exchanging paintings with Vasarely... What went wrong? To be more precise, the Master selected and took my painting after my exhibition in Paris, but I couldn’t have his, as his family practically shut him off from the world after his stroke. Then came the big awakening: the opportunity for the big international debut of ‘89-90 vanished. I was devastated, but I kept working while the system collapsed around me. Interlude November 1987 Paris. Crowds at the exhibition. Vasarely, wearing a trench coat, leaning on his cane, talks about Cézanne’s legacy and his influence on Eastern Europeans, himself, the Bauhaus, Cubism, Klee and Malevich. Gábor is wearing glasses. He doesn’t need them, but he thinks it makes him look older. He listens and looks smartly into the distance as his name is mentioned after the great predecessors. Applause. The exhibition is officially open. The Master offers to exchange pictures. It was a very difficult period for my artistic and human development. At the same time, I was suddenly surrounded by so many new impulses and opportunities that it didn’t even occur to me to get depressed.
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