Simultaneous Contrasts: Sun and Moon 1913

Robert Delaunay made this circular canvas, ‘Simultaneous Contrasts: Sun and Moon’ with oil paint, using lots of yellows, purples, and greens. Imagine the studio, perhaps the canvas was turning as Delaunay painted, adding circles, arcs, and segments. I wonder if he knew where he was going with this painting? The circles almost feel like they are vibrating on the canvas, with all these contrasts that make your eyes bounce around. What do you think he was searching for, what did he want to find? There is a sort of kinship between Delaunay and other painters, you know – like Kandinsky, or Kupka. They were all trying to push painting beyond just representing things, and make it its own kind of visual music. I think Delaunay and his contemporaries remind us that painting doesn't have to pin things down. It can be a way of feeling and thinking out loud.