SONIA DELAUNAY (1885-1979)

Sonia Delaunay was a Ukranian-born Russian artist who spent most of her working life in Paris. Having formally trained in Russia and Germany, she moved to Paris in 1905 and enrolled at the Academie de la Palette in Montparnasse. She expanded her art to include textile, fashion and set design and, at this time, was strongly influenced by the post-impressionist art of Van Gogh, Gaugin, Rousseau and the Fauves including Matisse and Derain.

Together with her husband and others, she co-founded the Orphism art movement, Delaunay’s version of Cubism, a term coined by their friend and poet Guillaume Apollinaire. Orphism was noted for its strong colours and geometric shapes.

She was the first female artist to have a restrospective exhibition at the Louvre in 1964 and in 1975 was named an officer of the French Legion d’Honneur.