Yaacov Agam, a kinetic art pioneer, died on Sunday at the age of 98. His body will lie in state at the Agam Museum in Rishon Lezion on Monday from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. before his funeral at the Rehovot Cemetery at 5:00 p.m.

Culture and Sport Minister Miki Zohar released a statement on X/Twitter on Sunday regarding Agam's passing. "I was deeply saddened to receive the news of the passing of the artist Yaakov Agam, recipient of the Israel Prize and one of the most prominent and influential Israeli artists in the world," Zohar said. "Agam was a groundbreaking artist who gave Israeli creation a unique and inspiring language."

Agam was born Yaacov Gibstein in Rishon Lezion on May 11, 1928. He was recognized as one of the founders of the kinetic art movement. He studied art at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem as a student of Mordecai Ardon, and later studied in Zurich with Johannes Itten. He received the Israel Prize for Visual Arts: Painting, Sculpture, and Photography in 2026.

Agam moved to Paris in the 1950s. At age 27, he showed colorful wooden reliefs in the Paris exhibition Le Mouvement, which also featured artists such as Marcel Duchamp, Jean Tinguely, and Alexander Calder. He described his aim for art as showing "the visible as possibility in a state of perpetual becoming."

Agam had retrospectives at the Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in 1973. A retrospective was held at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 1980. His works were displayed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

Agam created works for the Élysée Palace in Paris and a musical fountain at La Défense in Paris. His Israeli works include the Fire and Water Fountain in Tel Aviv's Dizengoff Square, which was later removed, restored, and returned. Other works in Israel include Jacob's Ladder at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem, the colorful façade of the Dan Hotel in Tel Aviv, and Eighteen Levels at the Israel Museum's Billy Rose Art Garden.

Agam designed stamps and created the "Agamograph" display technique using Plexiglass. He designed the trophy presented by Dana International to the winner of the 1999 Eurovision Song Contest in Jerusalem. The Yaacov Agam Museum of Art opened in Rishon Lezion in 2017.

Agam received the first prize for artistic research at the São Paulo Biennale in 1963. He was honored with the French commander of the Order of Arts and Letters and the chevalier of the Legion of Honor. Agam married Clila in Paris in 1954. They had three children, including photographer Ron Agam and musician Oram Agam. His brother, Hanania Gibstein, served as mayor of Rishon Lezion. Agam was arrested by the British in 1946 during the Black Sabbath raids and held for several months at the Latrun detention camp.