Rhythm

Collection of Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris (France).

Canvas, oil.

From the 1930s, Delaunay began to study the motives of “rhythms”, created compositions with the placement of a number of colours, complementing or contradicting each other. This work is of particular importance – it was created for the 15th annual exhibition of the Tuileries Salon in Paris. Her participation in it proved the artist’s entry into a group of creators representing contemporary French art. The large-scale canvas includes circles of vibrant primary colours, as well as black and white. The layers are uneven, peculiarly organized along the central axis. A section of black and white interconnected triangles grounds a series of semicircles on one side. It is connected to a large black circle surrounding a colourful central shape – this creates a balance on the canvas. Sometimes colours mix and sometimes “work” against each other in other parts. The author captured the visual rhythm created by the movement and shift of colours. She described the process as a desire “to discover the harmonies and dissonances that give flowers their own life, giving them momentum and vibration”.