Bridget Riley

Bridget Riley was born in South London in 1931. She studied at Goldsmiths College from 1949 to 1952, and at the Royal College of Art from 1952 to 1955, before going on to teach and work in an advertising agency until 1963. Her first solo exhibition was held at Gallery One in London 1962.

In 1965, Riley exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in a group show, The Responsive Eye. The exhibition drew worldwide attention to the 'Op Art' movement, and Riley's work which consisted of black and white geometric patterns. Riley's printmaking over the last 50 years has run parallel to the developments in her painting. Riley worked exclusively in black and white until the late 1960s when she shifted her palette to grey and then to colour. Since then Riley has employed a rich array of colour in several series of influential bodies of work.

Recent solo exhibitions include Yale Center for British Art, Connecticut (2022); The Lightbox, Woking (2021); National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh and Hayward Gallery, London (2019); The Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art, Japan (2018); Christchurch Art Gallery, New Zealand (2017); Graves Gallery, Museum Sheffield (2016); De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea, toured to Gemeentemuseum, The Hague (2015) and National Gallery, London (2010). 

She represented Great Britain in the Venice Biennale in 1968 where she was the first British contemporary painter, and the first woman, to be awarded the International Prize for painting. In 1974, Riley was named a CBE and in 1999, appointed the Companion of Honour. In 2003, the artist was awarded the Praemium Imperiale in Tokyo.

Rileys works are held in numerous collections around the world including, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Kunstmuseum, Bern; Nationalgalerie, Berlin; Israel Museum, Jerusalem; National Gallery of Modern Art, Tokyo; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Museu Colecção Berardo, Lisbon; Arts Council Collection, London; Tate, London; Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester; Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Texas; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Yale Center for British Art, Connecticut.

Bridget Riley lives and works in London, Cornwall and France.