Robert Delaunay
Robert Delaunay was born on April 12, 1885 in Paris, France. His parents divorced when he was young, and he was brought up by his uncle, spending his holidays at his uncle's country estate in La Ronchere , near Bourges. His family was well to do , allowing Robert to pursue his passion for art. In 1902, he was sent by his uncle to the Atlier Ronsin , a decorator's studio in Belleville after he failed his school leaving exams. During this early period, his work echoed the style of impressionists like Claude Monet and Camille Pissaro , and were usually landscapes and still life works. "Japonisme" was popular at the tine in Paris, and the work of artists such as Pierre Bonnard and Paul Gaugin influenced Delaunay as well during this time. It was the work of Paul Cezanne, however , that had the greatest effect on Delaunay . In 190, Delaunay began his series of paintings of the church of Saint Severin, which showed his work going in a much more abstract direction that would mark his entire career. He was soon invited by Wassily Kandinsky to exhibit works with the "Blaue Riter" group. Delaunay submitted four paintings and a drawing t of the church interior that had a tremendous impact. Also during this time, Delaunay executed the first of his famous Eiffel Tower paintings. Delaunay would return to the Eiffel Tower as a subject over thirty times. In the "Red Tower" (1911) for example, Delaunay approaches the Eiffel Tower with an almost cubist de-construction , showing the tower in a state of collapsing. For the Salon des Independents in 1912, Delaunay produced "The City of Paris" , a kind of summation of his favorite themes , with the central figures of the three graces in front of a landscape that included the collapsing Eiffel Tower and a bridge on the Seine based on a painting by Henri Rousseau,whom Delaunay admired greatly. In 1913 , he began his "Windows" series, abstract paintings of geometric designs of brilliant colors, which demonstrated his theory of the "simultaneity" of color and contrast : orange seen next to green appears more red , while green next to orange looks blue, etc. Delaunay's wife Sonia began to use those theories in her work , at first for her collages and book bindings , and then for her lrage canvases such as "La Bal Bullier " ( 1913). Also that year, Sonia designed a "simultaneous book" for poet Blaise Cendars.
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