Though the founding act of Sonia Delaunay's abstract period in 1911 was a patchwork blanket of fabrics assembled with no concern for figuration, this nascent abstraction went hand-in-hand with the colour research she carried out with her husband Robert. Together, they worked on the simultaneous contrasts of colours and the bright vibrations that give rise to shapes. Colour is no longer a means of painting, but becomes the subject of painting itself. Is this the case in Rhythm Colour no. 1076, created in 1939?
More than an iconic work embodying the principle of colour contrasts, this piece is a poem! Here, Sonia Delaunay frees herself from the rigour of geometric abstraction to create pictorial poems, where the beauty of colour replaces the beauty of words. These poems, which she called Rhythm Colour or Coloured Rhythm, made up a set of coloured variations on the same theme. The symmetrical organisation around a main axis of the composition, with its skilfully proportioned colours, enchants the eye, revelling in its joyful animation.
Detail : But how were these so perfectly formed circles made? You might think it's freehand, but it's not! During restoration, small holes were discovered on the surface of the canvas, with which Sonia Delaunay, using a string and a nail, created this technique for perfect circles.
Though the founding act of Sonia Delaunay's abstract period in 1911 was a patchwork blanket of fabrics assembled with no concern for figuration, this nascent abstraction went hand-in-hand with the colour research she carried out with her husband Robert. Together, they worked on the simultaneous contrasts of colours and the bright vibrations that give rise to shapes. Colour is no longer a means of painting, but becomes the subject of painting itself. Is this the case in Rhythm Colour no. 1076, created in 1939?
More than an iconic work embodying the principle of colour contrasts, this piece is a poem! Here, Sonia Delaunay frees herself from the rigour of geometric abstraction to create pictorial poems, where the beauty of colour replaces the beauty of words. These poems, which she called Rhythm Colour or Coloured Rhythm, made up a set of coloured variations on the same theme. The symmetrical organisation around a main axis of the composition, with its skilfully proportioned colours, enchants the eye, revelling in its joyful animation.
Detail : But how were these so perfectly formed circles made? You might think it's freehand, but it's not! During restoration, small holes were discovered on the surface of the canvas, with which Sonia Delaunay, using a string and a nail, created this technique for perfect circles.
