Modern and Contemporary Art Saint-Séverin See Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1950-134-42b, for reverse 1909 Robert Delaunay, French, 1885 - 1941 Oil on canvas * Gallery 169, Modern and Contemporary Art, first floor 1950-134-42a The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, 1950 |
LabelBetween the spring of 1909 and early 1910, Saint-Séverin, a small thirteenth-century Gothic church near Robert Delaunay's studio in Paris, inspired a series of seven paintings by the artist. In these works, he explored the interaction of light, color, and space in the cavernous church interior and its architecture of twisting columns and pointed arches to produce a kaleidoscopic sensation of shifting perspectives. Transforming the prismatic color he observed refracted through the church's stained-glass windows into images of forms dematerialized by light, Delaunay arrived at a language of visual fragmentation that was much more expressive than other variations of Cubism then taking hold among advanced artists in Paris.* Works in the collection are moved off view for many different reasons. Although gallery locations on the website are updated regularly, there is no guarantee that this object will be on display on the day of your visit. |
