In 1913, the painting, along with other, smaller compositions, was sent to New York for the now infamous Armory Show. First shown in the Salon des Independants in 1912, the work caused a sensation and was noted by Apollinaire to be an example of the new movement, Orphism. This painting figured prominently in the art world of pre-World War I Paris and was one of the first acquisitions of Jean Cassou, a freelance journalist and later the director of the Museum of Modern Art during the turbulent days of the Socialist Blum government prior to World War II. As Mark Rosenthal noted, 'Delaunay 'effectively replaced the pastoral landscape of the Impressionists with a modern paen of French glory" even reducing his color palette to the red, white, and blue of the French flag. His work was described as a synthesis of Impressionism and Cubism but the dynamic robotic-like presence, wing-like forms and plumes of smoke or clouds are more reminiscent of the Futurist project. The rich red color is heightened in contrast to the pale blue background, which again emphasises the tower's dominance on the Parisian skyline. The Cubist influence is present in both the fragmented panes of the composition and in the multiple viewpoints of the tower - by looking both up at it's towering height and down on to the smaller buildings. He went on to produce around fifteen versions and the tower became a major motif for artists in recognition of the major role that technological development and innovation had on the first part of the 20 th century.
nature is no longer a subject for description but a pretext." Eventually, he abandoned "images or reality that come to corrupt the order of color" - thus turning to complete abstraction.ĭelaunay painted his first Eiffel Tower in 1909 to celebrate his engagement to Sonia Terk. Delaunay wrote that the "breaking up of form by light creates colored planes. He was particularly captivated by how the interaction of various colors generated impressions of movement and depth without allusion to nature. Delaunay penned his own theories of color in which he discusses both color as a material form and its great expressive power.These canvases are known for their dynamic sense of movement and their celebration of urban life, particularly Paris with Delaunay's oft-repeated motif of the Eiffel Tower. As his style matured, Delaunay further developed his mosaic-like squares into more complex geometric facets in which both solid objects and their surrounding spaces were fragmented, much like Cubism.He often left small areas of canvas blank to create a sense of space and light even at this stage of development his interest in brilliant color was notable. Influenced by Neo-Impressionism and the painting technique known as pointillism or divisionism, in his early works Delaunay created forms using squares of color that resembled a mosaic.
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