Galerie Louis Carré

Robert Delaunay (1885-1941) was, alongside his wife Sonia, one of the most important and innovative abstract artists of the early 20th century. At first a Neo-Impressionist who painted portraits and landscapes in ‘Divisionist’ blocks of colour, with Sonia, whom he married in 1910, he developed a vibrant new mode of abstract Cubist painting. Characterised by bright colour and swirling, geometric compositions, this poetic new style was dubbed ‘Orphism’ by the French writer Apollinaire, who was a close friend of the pair.

Born in Paris, the French capital, with its boulevard lights, Jazz cafes, and thronging streets, was to remain a key source of inspiration. After a brief period of self-exile in Spain and Portugal for the duration of WWI, the Delaunays returned to the city in the early 1920s, where Robert spent the rest of his life as an artist. He died at the age of 56, after a debilitating battle with cancer.