Delaunay, Robert

Robert Delaunay (1885-1941) was a French painter born in Paris, France who was a pioneer of abstract art in the early 20th century and the inventor of Orphic Cubism. During his earlier career Robert Delaunay was one of the most influential artists in Paris and very interested in the emotional effects of pure colour. Essentially Robert Delaunay was a self-taught as an artist who first exhibited his paintings to the public around 1904. The style of his paintings at this time was impressionist but his later works were a highly personal cubism style. Delaunay used bright colors instead of the muted browns and grays typical of the paintings of cubist pioneers and rather than static subjects (still life or human subjects) Delaunay chose to paint from scenes of modern city life. Delaunay painted a series of the city of Paris and the Eiffel Tower which showed the tower from different perspectives and were some of his most interesting works.