Born in 1885 in Paris, Robert Delaunay was a innovator of contemporary art as well as the first French artist to paint wholly abstract art. He was raised by his uncle and took up painting at a young age. He had no specialized education and was expelled from various schools both in Paris and Bourges. By the age of 17, he committed himself to painting seriously and persuaded his loved ones that his life's calling was to be a painter.
With his model of painting, he was somewhat overshadowed by his contemporaries, including Picasso, Matisse and Braque, but Delaunay was among the first artists to introduce vivid and vibrant color in to the type of painting known as Cubism in the style known as Orphism. He also worked in the styles of Abstract and Expressionism. Some of his most celebrated art is vivid, bright and colorful, much like the style of Kandinsky. Many people have claimed that Delaunay was the originator of "Simultaneism" which is an infusion of Cubism and Futurism.
In studying the main style of Cubism which Delaunay represented in a good many of his paintings, Cubism is said to be the most ground breaking and radical painting style in the Twentieth Century. In a simplified version of the style, it is in essence a complete denial of what we understand to be a classical conception of beauty.
The popularity in the Orphisms' was rooted in Cubism which moved more towards an overall lyrical abstraction which considered painting as the joining together of an experience or feeling of bright colors. The design and style was more concerned with the expression and concept of sensation and abstract structures. It was a move away from a wholly recognizable subject or objects and communicated its meaning through form and color alone.
Likewise, Delaunay used the type of Expressionism as part of his style of painting and its typical trait is to show the world from a subjective point of view with its distortions to evoke moods and ideas. The Expressionist artists expressed meaning not through the depictions of subjects or actual reality, but instead through an emotional response.
During the period from 1908-10, he contributed to the Cubist artistic movement by producing stunning colorful works rather than the fashionable browns and greys of Picasso and Braque. His imagery was also different and he chose dynamic urban imagery as opposed to static still-life forms that was the typical subject matter at the time. Undoubtedly one of his most celebrated works, the "Eiffel Tower" combined the Cubist form with vivid colors. The fact is, The Eiffel Tower was one of Delaunay's favorite subjects and is one of the more recognized symbols of the new age.
After 1912, he depicted his work through more rectangular and circular abstract shapes where he finished the Fenetres series and the Disks. A number of these paintings could be deemed abstract, but they include an insistent strain of cosmic symbolism. Brilliant light and color are enhanced by "simultaneous contrast", a result of juxtaposition whereby color is the primary element. His work was shown at a solo exhibition in the famous Sturm Gallery in Berlin the following year, to great enthusiasm from painters like Franz Marc, Auguste Macke, and Wassily Kandinsky, as well as from Paul Klee, Fernand Leger, and Marc Chagall.
While his life was quite complex and unnatural, his paintings were packed with energy and he fully explored the usage of light and color. His determination and dedication to art seem, sometimes, more admirable than his art itself, for he inundated himself in the life of art and almost developed it into a discipline to generate precise, well-calculated paintings.
Having said that, these paintings are beautiful, provocative, and regarded essential to any serious collection of modern art. Robert Delaunay is probably never to be considered as a master since, alone, he never sent art in a totally new direction. Yet his distinctive and unique style undoubtedly moved art forward. Delaunay along with his wife, Sonia Terk Delaunay, labored on a sizable, impressive abstract mural with each other for the Paris Exposition in 1937. He died a few years later in 1941.
With his model of painting, he was somewhat overshadowed by his contemporaries, including Picasso, Matisse and Braque, but Delaunay was among the first artists to introduce vivid and vibrant color in to the type of painting known as Cubism in the style known as Orphism. He also worked in the styles of Abstract and Expressionism. Some of his most celebrated art is vivid, bright and colorful, much like the style of Kandinsky. Many people have claimed that Delaunay was the originator of "Simultaneism" which is an infusion of Cubism and Futurism.
In studying the main style of Cubism which Delaunay represented in a good many of his paintings, Cubism is said to be the most ground breaking and radical painting style in the Twentieth Century. In a simplified version of the style, it is in essence a complete denial of what we understand to be a classical conception of beauty.
The popularity in the Orphisms' was rooted in Cubism which moved more towards an overall lyrical abstraction which considered painting as the joining together of an experience or feeling of bright colors. The design and style was more concerned with the expression and concept of sensation and abstract structures. It was a move away from a wholly recognizable subject or objects and communicated its meaning through form and color alone.
Likewise, Delaunay used the type of Expressionism as part of his style of painting and its typical trait is to show the world from a subjective point of view with its distortions to evoke moods and ideas. The Expressionist artists expressed meaning not through the depictions of subjects or actual reality, but instead through an emotional response.
During the period from 1908-10, he contributed to the Cubist artistic movement by producing stunning colorful works rather than the fashionable browns and greys of Picasso and Braque. His imagery was also different and he chose dynamic urban imagery as opposed to static still-life forms that was the typical subject matter at the time. Undoubtedly one of his most celebrated works, the "Eiffel Tower" combined the Cubist form with vivid colors. The fact is, The Eiffel Tower was one of Delaunay's favorite subjects and is one of the more recognized symbols of the new age.
After 1912, he depicted his work through more rectangular and circular abstract shapes where he finished the Fenetres series and the Disks. A number of these paintings could be deemed abstract, but they include an insistent strain of cosmic symbolism. Brilliant light and color are enhanced by "simultaneous contrast", a result of juxtaposition whereby color is the primary element. His work was shown at a solo exhibition in the famous Sturm Gallery in Berlin the following year, to great enthusiasm from painters like Franz Marc, Auguste Macke, and Wassily Kandinsky, as well as from Paul Klee, Fernand Leger, and Marc Chagall.
While his life was quite complex and unnatural, his paintings were packed with energy and he fully explored the usage of light and color. His determination and dedication to art seem, sometimes, more admirable than his art itself, for he inundated himself in the life of art and almost developed it into a discipline to generate precise, well-calculated paintings.
Having said that, these paintings are beautiful, provocative, and regarded essential to any serious collection of modern art. Robert Delaunay is probably never to be considered as a master since, alone, he never sent art in a totally new direction. Yet his distinctive and unique style undoubtedly moved art forward. Delaunay along with his wife, Sonia Terk Delaunay, labored on a sizable, impressive abstract mural with each other for the Paris Exposition in 1937. He died a few years later in 1941.
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Written by Wm M. Martin for Masterpiece Art. We sell t-shirts, glassware, stationary and more featuring art from Renaissance to abstract. Visit our site to see Robert Delaunay's work and a selection of our products.. This article, Robert Delaunay French Modern Art Pioneer has free reprint rights.
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