The Simultaneous Colours of Sonia Delaunay
A brief overview of the artist who ‘invented’ Artist’s Books, styled Hollywood stars and automobiles, and developed her own take on Orphism: Simultanéisme
Sonia Delaunay was a colourful force of life moving between art and fashion throughout her long career influencing many artists and designers to this day.
Born Sara Stern in 1885 to poor Jewish parents in Ukraine, she was sent at the age of five to her mother’s affluent brother in St Petersburg to have a better life. Adopted by her Uncle and Aunt, she took their surname of Terk and became known as Sonia. Her Uncle collected art, and the family summered in Finland and often travelled within Europe so she visited galleries and was well-educated. Sonia’s talent for drawing was encouraged and she studied art in Germany before moving to Paris where she was influenced by Henri Matisse and the Fauvists, as well as other innovators such as Vincent Van Gogh and Henri Rousseau.
She briefly married Gallery owner Wilhelm Uhde, a marriage of convenience so that she could remain in Paris. It was through Uhde’s gallery that she met artist Robert Delaunay and fell in love. Uhde amicably divorced Sonia so that she could marry Robert in 1910 and the couple had a son, Charles, in 1911.
