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Course: Modernisms 1900-1980 > Unit 3
Lesson 1: Cubism- Cubist Sculpture II
- The Case for Abstraction
- Picasso's Early Work
- Picasso, Portrait of Gertrude Stein
- Pablo Picasso, Gertrude Stein
- Picasso, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon
- Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon
- Pablo Picasso, Three Women
- Inventing Cubism
- Cubism and multiple perspectives
- Synthetic Cubism, Part I
- Synthetic Cubism, Part II
- Salon Cubism
- Pablo Picasso and the new language of Cubism
- Braque, The Viaduct at L'Estaque
- Picasso, The Reservoir, Horta de Ebro
- Georges Braque, Violin and Palette
- Braque, The Portuguese
- Braque, The Portuguese
- Cubist Sculpture I
- Picasso, Guitar
- Picasso, Still Life with Chair Caning
- Pablo Picasso, Portrait of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler
- Picasso, Still Life with Chair Caning
- Pablo Picasso, The Three Musicians
- Pablo Picasso, Guitar, Glass, and Bottle
- Conservation | Picasso's Guitars
- Picasso, Guernica
- Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso: Two Cubist Musicians
- Fernand Léger, "Contrast of Forms"
- Robert Delaunay, "Simultaneous Contrasts: Sun and Moon"
- The Cubist City – Robert Delaunay and Fernand Léger
- Juan Gris, The Table
- Cubism and its impact
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Robert Delaunay, "Simultaneous Contrasts: Sun and Moon"
To learn more about how abstract artists became the radical thinkers of their time, take our online course, Modern Art, 1880-1945 or Pigment to Pixel: Color in Modern and Contemporary Art.. Created by The Museum of Modern Art.
Want to join the conversation?
- When did we discover it was painted in 1913?
During this era did artists get busted while they were alive for using fake dates? What were the consequences if so?(9 votes) - How does the shape of the painting factor into the interpretation of the painting? It is unusual to have a round painting isn't it?(3 votes)
- Considering it concerns the sun and the moon, celestial objects that are more or less spherical, maybe that has something to do with it! :) Just conjecture on my part, though. It certainly is interesting - we don't see too many round paintings as you've said.(3 votes)
- What is the title and maker of the painting at? (Edit: If it's from Delaunay, what's the title?) 1:03
I find it amazing. Due to the face it looks like a modern re-imagination of a Klimt portrait :)(2 votes)- The name of the artist is František Kupka and the painting is titled, "Mme. Kupka among Verticals." Here is MoMA's page on it: http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=79971(3 votes)
- As an avid studier of science and history, I would love to study more works that reflect this particular mindset about an evolving, increasingly complex world expressed in abstractions. Are there any other notable works similar to this?(2 votes)
- Look at Malevich, Picasso, and others of the era but also look at Agnes Martin , and Tony Smith (among others).(2 votes)
- I would really appreciate if you could tell me something more about Delaunay and Orphism. About his color theories and what made Orphism perceived as key in the transition from Cubism to Abstract art.(2 votes)
- How do these artists keep getting their own dates wrong and how are they known to be wrong?(0 votes)
- Some artists add a wrong date intentional: by using an earlier date it appears as if they 'discovered' a certain style. It makes their work seem even more revolutionary/modern/avant-garde.
Wrong dates are discovered based on stylistic characteristics of the work, letters that the artists wrote about their work, diaries of friends of artists, material characteristics (e.g., the type of wood/paint that was used) and much more (it's a bit like detective work!)(4 votes)
- I would really like a bit more elaboration on how exactly, and in what sense, the artists of that era, and specifically Delaunay, respond to the science of the beginning of the 20th century. Are there corellations between painting works and more specific scientific theories (e.g. Einstein's relativity)? Could someone let me know about more info/literature on this?(1 vote)
- Look here. It's a student paper, but it moves in your direction. http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/assets/qualifications-and-standards/qualifications/ncea/NCEA-subject-resources/Art-History/91184/91486-EXP-student6-001.pdf(1 vote)
- Has anyone else ever seen a Romeo V. Tabuena (Filipino born. Now living in Guanajuato, Mexico artist) painting? This work REALLY reminds me of his style and makes me wonder if he was influenced by this sort of work since Tabuena started painting in the 1950's and continues to this day.(0 votes)
Video transcript
- This circular painting
by Robert Delaunay is one of many that takes advantage and really responds to the science of the beginning of the 20th century and thinking about the heavens, thinking about the movements
of the sun, the moon, the planets as a kind of model for what abstract painting could be. You may note Delaunay
dates the picture 1912. We now know, of course,
that it was painted in 1913. There was such a kind
of rat-a-tat-tat barrage of new ideas that
artists had a great stake in being the first one
to do what they did. In this case, something from 1913 is stated to have been from 1912. It's an era of invention. It's an era of discovery. It's not an era of doing
what other people do. It's an era of doing what you're
doing before anybody else. Delaunay was very
interested in color theory, and there were very complicated,
conflicting theorists about complementary colors,
about primaries and secondaries, and paintings like this one are where he tested out those theories, the ways in which subtleties of shades actually bloom into new colors, depending on the way the
artist combines them. This painting has in its
title the word simultaneous, an idea of movement, an
idea of passing of time. You're actually not
seeing something still, because there are light
waves, there are sound waves, there are particles. Artists at this time
were very conscious of the many, many new aspects
of scientific thought that were upending the idea of the world, of space and of time as
a constant, stable given. They wanted to translate
that into their paintings, and Delaunay did that into this painting and all of his paintings.