99-year-old Hungarian artist’s computer-generated NFTs sold for $1.2M

Vera Molnár pioneered the use of computer-generated art in the latter half of the 20th century.

Computer-generated nonfungible tokens (NFTs) created by Hungarian artist Vera Molnár in collaboration with Martin Grasser sold out in less than one hour during Sotheby’s Dutch auction for a total of 631 Ether (ETH), or around $1.2 million.

According to the July 26 announcement, the “Themes and Variations” collection features 500 collectibles generated via an algorithmic combination of 170 color palettes and recursive grids. The auctioneer wrote:

“Themes and Variations is an expansion of Molnár’s 2% d’ordre generative protocol that explores the power of the grid and randomness of color. Molnár further developed the system by incorporating the appearance of letters (N, F, T), playfully chosen for this series as a reference to the technological vehicle of NFTs.”

Born in Budapest in 1924, Molnár was one of the first pioneers of computer-generated imagery, having started the practice in 1959. She previously lectured at the University de Paris and has had her works displayed in major European exhibitions. Molnár ventured into the realm of NFTs in 2022. She wrote:

“After decades of exploring how systems and computers can generate artistic outputs, I see this collaboration with Sotheby’s and Art Blocks as a culmination of those efforts, providing a new way to generate never-before-seen, unique abstract forms that are defined by the controlled randomness of machine programming—the essence of the algorithm.”

The collection has surpassed 589 ETH in volume traded on secondary markets such as OpenSea. At the time of publication, Themes and Variations’ floor price has increased by over 100% from an average of 1.52 ETH shortly after the sale ended. 

Magazine: Nonfungible tokens, the Quick Guide