VISIONS OF PARIS. ROBERT DELAUNAY`S SERIES

ROBERT DELAUNAY (1885-1941)

GUGGENHEIM:  A view on Delaunay's further artistic career reveals his continuing interest in the principle of the series, the phenomenon of abstraction in painting and certain subject that he would repeat throughout his whole career. When Delaunay returned to Paris after the First World War - he and Sonia lived during the wartime in Portugal - he picked up themes and motives that he had painted nearly obsessively during his most intensive and successful period. The most important is certainly the Eiffel Tower; in the twenties it became once more a dominant subject in Delaunay's art.

Delaunay's singular renderings of the Tower, approach it from new vantage points, either from above like in an aerial shot or from below underlining its vitality through radical foreshortening and bold colors. The explosive dynamics, with which the artist depicted the Tower earlier on, however, give way to a more serene and classical view. Delaunay also combined the Tower with other motives like the ferris wheel or the traditional female figure of the Three Graces and merged his favorite themes into one single painting.

Delaunay's advances into the realm of pure abstraction found their apogee in the creation of his Disk-paintings. With his First Disk Delaunay realized in 1912-13 his first truly abstract painting, with no objective reference, consisting only of layers and successions of color within the form of a circle. It was only in the thirties that Delaunay returned to the theme of the Disk in form of the series, confirming his interest in abstract painting while constantly putting it to the test.