Robert Delaunay

Dr. Viard, Paris (the artist's doctor; acquired directly from the artist)
Galleria Gissi, Turin
Sale: Christie's, London, December 8, 1999, lot 54
Acquired at the above sale

Berlin, Galerie Der Sturm (Herwarth Walden), no. 13 (titled Esquisse pour Ville de Paris)
Turin, Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna, Blaue Reiter, II Cavaliere Azzuro, 1971 (titled Le Finestre 1912)

Guy Habasque, Robert Delaunay: du Cubisme à l'Art Abstrait, Paris, 1957, no. 148, illustrated p. 274
Amélie Chazelles, La Tour Eiffel, vue par les peintres, Lausanne, 1988, illustrated p. 130

This painting is on its original canvas but it has been re-stretched. The paint layer is slightly cracked throughout, but this is not a sign of instability. There have been restorations applied to the surface in many areas. These restorations are clearly visible under ultraviolet light and not unlike many of the Delaunay works that are seen in the trade, this picture is in poor condition and may not properly represent the picture that was originally painted. Whether the restoration properly recreates the work is hard to tell. However, in order to make a significant improvement, this restoration would have to be removed and a considerably more focuses approach would have to be taken; this would take time and incur approximately $6,500. No structural work is recommended, either reinforcing the reverse of the canvas or changing the stretcher. The above condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Painted in 1914, Le Ville de Paris, Equisse presents one of the artist's most iconic subjects and indicates Delaunay's revolutionary transition from his earlier Cubist style towards his initiation of the Orphist movement. In a vibrant celebration of color and simplicity of form, Delaunay here depicts Paris - the city that figures most importantly in his oeuvre. He situates the Eiffel Tower, a symbol of his former Cubist deconstructions, in the distance and depicts the Three Graces in the foreground as an allegory for the grace and eloquence of his favorite city. Delaunay submitted an earlier iteration of this theme at the Salon des Indépendants in 1912, a work now in the collection of the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. When he comes back to this subject in 1914, as in the current work, he relies upon the expressive potential of color and the dynamism of the Orphist style.

Delaunay's study of color theory was influenced by the painting of Georges Seurat, whose use of contrasting and complementary colors in his pointillist compositions revolutionized painting at the end of the 19th century. Delaunay expanded upon the expressive potential of color in his painting, allowing an emphasis on color to dominate over the strictures of form. Max Imdahl wrote, "For Robert Delaunay, colors are the painter's actual language: 'Color is form and subject.' In addition, Delaunay considered the language of color the most human language imaginable in art. Every human being, he said, is capable of being affected by the universal language of colors, by their play, movement, chords, rhythms - in short, by those arrangements that are especially suited to man's natural inclinations" (Gustav Vriesen & Max Imdahl, Robert Delaunay: Light and Color, New York, 1967, p. 80).

Two years before he painted the present work, Delaunay wrote in a letter to Franz Marc on December 14, 1912: "I have an end, an artistic belief that is unique and that cannot be classified without risking becoming ponderous. I love poetry because it is higher than psychology. But I love painting more because I love light and clarity and it calms me. This is how I would have liked to be understood, but what does it matter after all? It is the image alone that is important..." (quoted in Visions of Paris: Robert Delaunay's Series (exhibition catalogue), Guggenheim Berlin, 1997, p. 129).

Fig. 1  Robert Delaunay, La ville de Paris, 1910-12, oil on canvas, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris