Collection: Robert Delaunay   1885 - 1941 

Robert Delaunay was 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.

Delaunay was born in Paris and its boulevard lights, Jazz cafes, and thronging streets, were 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 from cancer at the age of 56.