Coloured Rhythm

Collection of Museum Ludwig, Cologne (Germany).

Canvas, oil.

A few decades after her first experiments in colour rhythmic painting, a new development of the geometric form appeared in the works of Delaunay. Rectangles reduce the fluidity of rounded shapes, and this significant change indicates that the author continued to explore the topic throughout her career. The canvas is clearly divided – one-third of it is filled with the familiar motif of multi-coloured arcs, lined up next to each other to form layers. The rest of the composition is filled mainly with vertical elements of different sizes and colours. However, the author left faint traces of circles that seem to melt in rectangles, and also placed an accentuated black semicircle in the center, providing an attachment to the rhythm. Sonia wrote, “For me, the abstract and the sensual must come together. Refusing descriptiveness does not mean becoming barren.”