Rhythm 1934

Robert Delaunay made this painting, Rhythm, with oil paint, probably around 1912. Look at those radiating circles and broken color planes, like light refracting through a prism. It makes you wonder, what was Delaunay thinking as he laid down those first few brushstrokes? There is a strong sense of movement, as though the whole composition is in perpetual motion, expanding and contracting like a cosmic heart beating out a rhythm. I feel like Delaunay lets color do the work, letting the hues vibrate against one another and create dynamic relationships. It’s not just about what you see, but how you feel when you look at it. Delaunay and his wife Sonia were really pushing abstraction; their experiments with color and form are like a jazzy improvisation, bouncing off each other, creating something new out of the energy of the moment. Painting, like music, has always been about artists talking to each other across time. Delaunay is an important voice in that conversation.