Inspired by Sonia and Robert Delaunay

Sonia Delaunay (1885 – 1979) was a French artist who, with her husband Robert Delaunay (1885 – 1941), co-founded the Orphism art movement, noted for its use of strong colors and geometric shapes in the 20th century. Sonia grew up in Russia in a wealthy adoptive family. Through this privileged background she was encouraged to pursue her talent in the arts. She received her formal training in Germany before moving to France where she was schooled in Post-Impressionist and Fauvist art. Later in her career, she expanded her artistic practice to include textile, fashion, and set design. As a lifelong French resident, Sonia received citizenship as well as the honorary title of officer of the French Legion of Honor in 1975. Her work in modern design was celebrated. Sonia also became the first living female artist to have a retrospective exhibition at the Louvre in 1964. Throughout her career, she worked in close collaboration with her husband and fellow painter, Robert. Sonia, who was previously married to Wilhelm Uhde before she divorced him for Robert, spoke of her husband, "in Robert Delaunay I found a poet. A poet who wrote not with words but with colors." Robert's work was more abstract than his wife's. His key influence related to bold use of color and a clear love of experimentation with both depth and tone. 

The couple's friend, the poet and art critic Guillaume Apollinaire, is said to have coined the term Orphism to describe the Delaunays' version of Cubism in 1913. Around the same time, Cubism was growing in Paris and Robert had been studying the color theories of Michel Eugène Chevreul and “simultanéisme". Simultaneous design occurs when one design, when placed next to another, affects both; this is similar to the theory of colors that can be seen in Pointillism, adopted by Georges Seurat, in which primary color dots placed next to each other are “mixed" by the eye and affect each other. Contemporary artists such as Evrard & Koch, Nathanael Koffi, Antonio Chaves, and Guy Mansuy have followed in the footsteps of this artistic couple. Discover, with Artsper, the lasting legacy of Orphism upon contemporary art today!