Eiffel Tower 1914

Robert Delaunay made this painting, 'Eiffel Tower' with oil on canvas, and he must have been having a blast. He chops the scene up into shifting planes of colour. It’s all about the process of looking and feeling, not copying what’s there. The tower itself is the star, rising above a jumble of buildings. Delaunay’s brushwork is loose, almost slapdash, but look closer and you'll see he's really thinking about how colours bump against each other. The reds of the tower vibrate against the whites and greys of the buildings. There’s this great tension between representation and abstraction. I'm reminded of Cézanne who broke down the landscape into geometric forms. Delaunay takes it a step further, dissolving the scene into pure light and colour. Ultimately, it is a really playful work that reminds us that seeing is never a passive experience.