The celebrated British artist Bridget Riley will receive this prestigious colour prize for the way in which she has continued to use colour in her work in the past five decades. The purity, subtlety and precision of her use of colour have led to a sensational oeuvre from which a new generation of artists is drawing inspiration. At the same time she has demonstrated her ability to appeal to a broad public with her abstract work.
The first Sikkens Prize was awarded to Gerrit Rietveld in 1960. Other award winners have included Le Corbusier, Donald Judd, the hippies and the HEMA retail chain for their pioneering work in the field of the application of colour. The first Mondrian Lecture was delivered in 1979. Among those who have given it are Walter Lewin, Umberto Eco, Simon Schama, Rem Koolhaas, Artangel and Charles Jencks.
Dick Swaab will deliver the Mondrian Lecture 2012. This lecture is a contribution to the debate on the cultural significance of colour. In the lecture Swaab will talk about those brain mechanisms that are involved in both the perception and the creation of works of art, and the effect that brain disorders might have on these processes.