Agam Rodberg says goodbye to Yaacov Agam, the artist she was named after

Following the death of Yaacov Agam at age 98, Israeli actress Agam Rodberg posted a personal tribute on Instagram on Monday, June 22, 2026, about the close friendship they built over the years. Agam, a Israel Prize laureate and one of the world’s most influential Israeli artists, was especially known for kinetic art.

Rodberg said their connection began when she was 18, after she approached him at an event and told him she was named after him and wanted them to be friends. “It sounded almost rude, but luckily you agreed,” she wrote. She said that from then on they became close friends and met in New York, Paris, London and Israel, and also for dinners in the moshav where she lives.

Describing the relationship, Rodberg said that unlike her usual behavior, she mostly listened when they were together because, in her view, she sat across from “a man with infinite wisdom” from whom she wanted to absorb more and more. She called Agam one of the smartest and most special people she had ever known.

Rodberg also said Agam did more than create art. “He invented a language,” she wrote, saying it connected color, movement, technology, spirit and Judaism. She added that he changed the way people look at art and called him, in her eyes, the most important Israeli artist. “I am proud to be named after you,” she wrote, and closed by mourning “a beloved and one of a kind friend.”