Delaunay Robert: Biography, Creativity

Delaunay Robert is known all over the world as the founder of a new art style. Not having an art education, he was able to become an innovator, entrusting everything to color. His faithful companion and co-author was a spouse who emigrated during the revolution from Odessa.

All his life he strived to achieve perfection only with the help of color, having assigned to him all the functions. He managed to achieve this, but to develop his creativity he was prevented by illness and war.

short biography

Delaunay Robert was born on April 12, 1885 in Paris. Because of the early divorce of parents, the boy was educated by his uncle. The young man did not pass special artistic training. However, under the influence of the works of Gauguin and Cezanne, at the age of twenty he found himself in painting.

During the war of 1914-1918. Moved to Spain and Portugal. In his native city returned only in 1921. Was involved in monumental works for the World Exhibition in 1937, held in the French capital.

At the beginning of World War II, the artist left for Auvergne, but a serious illness has already progressed. Robert died on 25.10.1941, at the age of fifty-six. The cause of death was cancer.

Family life

At twenty-three, Delaunay Robert returned from military service and met Sonia Turk (an emigrant from Odessa). They were married two years later - in 1910. A year later they had a son, Charles.

The spouse has become a like-minded artist, besides, co-author of works in design and applied art. For example, over a masterpiece for the above exhibition in 1937, they worked together.

The couple laid the foundations of their own artistic concept. It was radically different from the one that developed since the Renaissance.

the main objective

Delaunay Robert believed that his main task in painting was to depict the chaos of color spots. He said more than once that he primarily loves color, unlike the general mass of people who prefer light. Because of the love of light, our ancestors invented fire, and the master confronted him and depicted it in every composition.

Creative way

At the beginning of his journey in painting, Robert Delaunay was inspired by Impressionism. He was fond of works of Gauguin (Breton period). Since 1906, he was attracted to post-impressionism. But more significant influence was the works of Cezanne.

The artist in his own way solved the problem of discrepancy of volume and color. Therefore, his cubism was original. This was expressed in the paintings of 1906, on which the subjects were framed with a luminous halo.

According to the artist, the line drawing leads to an error. He found it from many famous Cubists. Realizing how to break the lines, he did not want to leave them at all. For this, he returned to the "separate" smear of post-impressionism. This made it possible to distinguish forms without applying contours.

By 1912, the master had moved on to the color technique and stopped at it. She helped the artist achieve the desired, when the forms on the canvases are created by correlating the differently painted planes. Space is obtained by means of tonal discrepancies.

The main periods of creativity

Constructive

Artist Delaunay Robert believed that the color is self-valued, so with it, he replaced most of the elements, such as drawing with perspective and volume with chiaroscuro. The period began in 1912. He aspired that the form, composition, and plot be transmitted exclusively in color.

The master discovered the quality of the color, which is known as the dynamic force. He noticed that the colors next to each other can lead to a kind of vibration. This allowed the creator to model the movement of the composition.

An example of this period are the paintings from the ensemble "Round Forms".

Iberian

Delaunay Robert, whose work is being discussed, during the military operations of 1914-1917. Lived in Portugal, Spain. Here he began to apply a new technique, depicting the human body and various objects.

The artist was able to deepen the formed concept of "dissonance" in the visual arts. In his interpretation, this was a comparison of color with rapid vibrations. In the twenties of the last century he perfected his own artistic language.

An example is the painting "Portuguese Still Life".

The second abstract

The artist returned to the problems that he tried to curb in the ensemble "Round Forms" in 1930. Delaunay created other works on the same topic. They proved to be more dynamic and on the whole more perfect from a technical point of view.

True solution he could find in the cycle "Joy of Life". In these paintings, the artist resorted to a technique with which he was able to delimit fragments and focus only on the composition.

Examples of works of this period can be called "Rhythms", "Infinite Rhythms".

Monumental period

Robert Delone (the biography is inextricably linked with Sonya Turk) saw in his painting a monumental character. To his comrades and followers, he explained that by making a transition in the work on one creation to the second, and then to the next one, one can get an ensemble. Such a painting, in his opinion, does not destroy the architecture, but makes the colors play on the surface.

In his work with "Relief Rhythms" the French artist used and even invented materials that would be resistant to the influence of the external environment.

In 1937, the organizers of the Paris exhibition proposed to deal with the design of two buildings. So, Delaunay had an opportunity to combine architecture with his works. He created huge relief panels.

In a similar monumental style were the last creations, such as "Circular rhythm", "Three rhythms". They became a kind of spiritual testament of the author. Subsequent creative pursuit Delaunay interrupted the disease and the subsequent death.

Series of paintings

The master refused his works from the usual means, from the standard way of thinking. He decided to trust all the flowers. Current scientific theories have confirmed the creative quest of the master. With exceptionally color, he managed to show a new perception of space, the dynamic nature of the material.

Being a Parisian, the artist could not bypass the main architectural structure of the present. Therefore depicted on the canvases the symbol of his native city Robert Delone. "Eiffel Tower" is a series of paintings, which he wrote since 1909. Light in them flows from everywhere, as a result of which the image breaks up into parts. Each fragment is subject to its own perspective.

In 1912 he created the ensemble "Windows", in which space is depicted with the help of color contrasts. They created depth without needing chiaroscuro.

In 1914 he painted the painting "In Honor of Blerio" from the series "Round forms". In it, the plot is of secondary importance. In the creation, movement is successively transmitted by disk-like alternations. To this series, he will return in 1930, creating more advanced and dynamic work.

In 1920, his work "Nude with a book" appeared, in which the artist applied a new technique of transmitting the human body.

The true solution to his creative search Robert finds in the series of the thirties "Joy of Life".

additional information

Robert Delone (French artist) created canvases that are stored around the world: in the UK, Japan, Australia. In Paris, the National Museum gave the Delone family a separate room (Pompidou Center).

The son of Robert and Sonya lived 77 years and died in 1988. Charles studied the history of jazz and promoted this style in music.