Robert Delaunay, The Eiffel Tower, 1911

Robert Delaunay, born in Paris, knew at an early age that he wanted to become an artist. Following his dreams, he was influenced by the “city of painters” which was where he adopted his renowned style of abstract forms and unusual combinations of color that closely relates to Paul Gauguin and Wassily Kandinsky. Delaunay found his biggest love in Orphist paintings. He loved to paint well recognized abstract forms, such as the Eiffel Tower, accompanied by “trippy” combinations of color. Experimenting with colors, angels, depth, and tone was the love that he found in painting.

Delaunay fell in love (and later married) a Russian painter named Sonia Terk. Through out their pre-marriage relationship, the couple did not paint together. Only when they were married that Robert Delaunay and Sonia Delaunay became a painting duo. Her style was almost a complete opposite of Robert's, as seen in the main black and white portraits that were currently being painted. But through the years and shared experiences with her husband, her artistic painting style slowly transformed to be identical to Robert's Orphist style of painting.

One of Robert Delaunay's most famous series is the Eiffel Tower Series. Delaunay worked diligently to complete over six paintings of the Eiffel Tower. The interesting thing about these paintings is the fact that they are all unique in their own way. After each one he completed, he strived to make the next one ever more appealing. The way that this was done was through color harmonies and the angel in which the spectator of the painting views the abstract figure, the Eiffel Tower, and can recognize it as an entirely different work, but by the same artist with the same style.

The Eiffel Tower, painted in 1911, is one of the most appealing works that Delaunay completed. The extreme color combinations are not present in this painting which makes it seem all the more mellow and relaxed. Accompanying the different choice in color harmony than usual, Delaunay painted the buildings to both sides of the renowned monument to sway and flow with the deformed tower itself. But at the same time, the free flowing buildings, while looking like they can be easily manipulated in soft wind, produce a comfortable amount of depth with almost no effort. The “trippy” style that Delaunay has evolved over the course of his artistic career has truly made it entertaining to view his work for long periods of time, something that not all artists have.