Couleur Additive (Color Aditivo), 1959 

This work is based on the irradiation of color; that is, on the demonstrable fact that when two color planes come into contact with each other, a darker virtual line appears in the contact zone. By isolating that contact zone, Cruz-Diez generates his Modules d’événnement chromatique (Chromatic Event Modules) that contribute to the appearance of new shades of color that are not on the plane and can vary according to the source of light and the distance and movement of the viewer.

Induction Chromatique (Inducción Cromática), 1963

These works are closely related to the phenomenon of post-image, which is also known as the retinal persistence effect. A complementary or induced color appears when we stare at a color plane, red for example, for a few seconds and then look away. At that point we see a green plane, which is an induced color, in this case the complementary version of red. This phenomenon consists of two stages that occur separately, one after the other. But Inductions Chromatiques capture and reproduce both of them at the same time. Cruz-Diez explains that he noticed the induced color effect when he was superimposing several color patterns placed at different angles. When he printed a blue pattern and a black pattern on a white background, a pale yellow also appeared. He had managed to capture, all at once, the phenomenon that, in Newton’s experiment, could only be observed in two sequential stages.