Robert Delaunay Paintings – 10 Most Famous Robert Delaunay Paintings

Robert Delaunay was born in Paris on April 12, 1885. His parents divorced when he was four and he was raised by an aunt and uncle. He attended an art school in Paris called Ronsin’s Atelier de Belleville and apprenticed to a theater designer. Despite his lack of formal art education, he continued to study and create paintings. He was inspired by the works of Pablo Picasso and Henri Rousseau.

In the early 1900s, Robert and Sonia Delaunay traveled to Portugal and Spain. There, Robert developed friendships with Igor Stravinsky and Diego Rivera. He also adopted a new technique of mixing oil with wax to preserve the luminosity of his colors. While traveling throughout Europe, Delaunay painted more than sixty works. His earliest paintings, like the Last Supper, were still oil on canvas.

Later, he returned to semi-figurative paintings. This time period saw him collaborating with Fernand Leger on murals for the International Exposition of Decorative Arts and creating film sets. In this period, Delaunay also became friendly with Tristan Tzara and Jean Arp. Despite his age, Delaunay continued to do commissioned wall paintings throughout his life. In his late twenties, he completed several murals at the Salon des Tuileries and the Palais des Chemin de Fer.

In 1937, he undertook a new project. Together with a team of painters, he created a series of murals for the Paris Exposition. The theme was art and technology in modern life. The artists re-created earlier experiments with chromatic color and simultaneity in order to create different forms for each panel. In this way, they managed to make a work of art that would become a famous monument in the world.

This video features 10 most famous Robert Delaunay paintings. Enjoy!