Sonia Delaunay

Sonia Delaunay (1885-1997) was a Russian-French painter, who in 1911 together with her husband Robert Delaunay together with others, established the Orphist movement, a movement known for its strong colours and geometric forms. Its kaleidoscopic colour scheme and balanced compositions express an aura of joy and comfort in both future and technology. Delaunay was even a fashion designer who incorporated clean lines and geometrical forms into her elegant fashion sketches. She desired to tailor clothing to the female form’s movements and envisioned a future of industrially replicated, democratic fashion. Unlike the grayness of Cubism, Sonia Delaunay's work carried the legacy of the Fauves and her Russian homeland throughout her life. The 1920s were an era of fantasy, madness, and Jazz, where work and pleasure intertwined. She was the first female artist to have a retrospective exhibition at the Louvre in 1964 and was also awarded the Legion of Honor.