Early life (1885–1904) ,
Centre Pompidou, Paris , Paris Sofia Ilinitchna Stern, or Sarah Elievna Stern was born youngest of three children on 14 November 1885 in
Hradyzk, or in
Odesa, both in
Ukraine, then part of the
Russian Empire, to poor Jewish parents. At five she was orphaned She assumed the name Sonia Terk and received a privileged upbringing with the Terks. They spent their summers in
Finland and travelled widely in Europe, introducing Sonia to art museums and galleries. When she was 16, she attended a well-regarded secondary school in St. Petersburg, where her skill at drawing was noted by her teacher. When she was 18, at her teacher's suggestion, she was sent to art school in
Germany where she attended the
Academy of Fine Arts in
Karlsruhe. She studied in Germany until 1905 and then moved to
Paris.
Paris (1905–1910) When she arrived in Paris she enrolled at the
Académie de La Palette in
Montparnasse. Unhappy with the mode of teaching, which she thought was too critical, she spent less time at the Académie and more time in galleries around Paris. Her own work during this period was strongly influenced by the art she was viewing including the
Post-Impressionist art of
Van Gogh,
Gauguin and
Henri Rousseau and the
Fauves including
Matisse and
Derain. In 1908 she entered into a "marriage of convenience" with German art dealer and gallery owner
Wilhelm Uhde, allowing her access to her dowry, and giving Uhde cover for his homosexuality. Sonia Terk gained entrance into the art world via exhibitions at Uhde's gallery and benefited from his connections. Comtesse de Rose, mother of
Robert Delaunay, was a regular visitor to Uhde's gallery, sometimes accompanied by her son. Sonia Terk met Robert Delaunay in early 1909. They became lovers in April of that year and it was decided that she and Uhde should divorce. The divorce was finalised in August 1910. Sonia was pregnant and she and Robert married on 15 November 1910. Their son
Charles was born on 18 January 1911. They were supported by an allowance sent from Sonia's aunt in St. Petersburg. Sonia said about Robert: "In Robert Delaunay I found a poet. A poet who wrote not with words but with colours". Contemporary art critics recognize this as the point where she moved away from perspective and
naturalism in her art. Around the same time,
cubist works were being shown in Paris and Robert had been studying the colour theories of
Michel Eugène Chevreul; they called their experiments with colour in art and design
simultanéisme. Simultaneous design occurs when one design, when placed next to another, affects both; this is similar to the theory of colours (
Pointillism, as used by e.g.
Georges Seurat) in which primary colour dots placed next to each other are "mixed" by the eye and affect each other. Sonia's first large-scale painting in this style was
Bal Bullier (1912–13), a painting known for both its use of colour and movement. Other works from this time include her series of paintings entitled
Simultaneous Contrasts. , 1978 The Delaunays' friend, the poet and art critic
Guillaume Apollinaire, coined the term
Orphism to describe the Delaunays' version of
Cubism in 1913. It was through Apollinaire that in 1912 Sonia met the poet
Blaise Cendrars who was to become her friend and collaborator. Sonia Delaunay described in an interview that the discovery of Cendrars' work “gave me [her] a push, a shock.” In August 1915 they moved to Portugal, where they shared a home with
Samuel Halpert and
Eduardo Viana. They discussed an artistic partnership with Viana and their friends
Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso, whom the Delaunays had already met in Paris, and
José de Almada Negreiros. In Portugal she painted
Marché au Minho (
Market in Minho, 1916), which she later says was "inspired by the beauty of the country". Sonia had a solo exhibition in Stockholm (1916). The
Russian Revolution brought an end to the financial support Sonia received from her family in Russia, and a different source of income was needed. In 1917 the Delaunays met
Sergei Diaghilev in Madrid. Sonia designed costumes for his production of
Cleopatra (stage design by
Robert Delaunay) and for the performance of
Aida in Barcelona. In Madrid she decorated the
Petit Casino (a nightclub) and founded
Casa Sonia, selling her designs for interior decoration and fashion, with a branch in
Bilbao. She was the center of a Madrid
Salon. Sonia Delaunay travelled to Paris twice in 1920 looking for opportunities in the fashion business, and in August she wrote a letter to
Paul Poiret stating she wanted to expand her business and include some of his designs. Poiret declined, claiming she had copied designs from his
Ateliers de Martine and was married to a French deserter (
Robert).
Galerie der Sturm in Berlin showed works by Sonia and Robert from their Portuguese period the same year.
Return to Paris (1921–1944) Sonia, Robert and their son Charles returned to Paris permanently in 1921 and moved into Boulevard Malesherbes 19. The Delaunays' most acute financial problems were solved when they sold
Henri Rousseau's
La Charmeuse de serpents (
The Snake Charmer) to
Jacques Doucet. Sonia Delaunay made clothes for private clients and friends, and in 1923 created fifty fabric designs using geometrical shapes and bold colours, commissioned by a manufacturer from
Lyon. Soon after, she started her own business and
simultané became her registered trademark. For the 1923 staging of
Tristan Tzara's play
Le Cœur à Gaz she designed the set and costumes. In 1924 she opened a fashion studio together with
Jacques Heim. Her customers included
Nancy Cunard,
Gloria Swanson,
Lucienne Bogaert and
Gabrielle Dorziat. With Heim she had a pavilion at the 1925
Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, called
boutique simultané. Sonia Delaunay gave a lecture at the
Sorbonne on the influence of painting on fashion. Sonia designed costumes for two films:
Le Vertige directed by
Marcel L'Herbier and ''
Le p'tit Parigot'', directed by
René Le Somptier, and designed some furniture for the set of the 1929 film
Parce que je t'aime (
Because I love you). During this period, she also designed haute couture textiles for Robert Perrier, while participating actively in his artistic salon,
R-26. The
Great Depression caused a decline in business. After closing her business, Sonia Delaunay returned to painting, but she still designed for Jacques Heim,
Metz & Co, Perrier and private clients. She said "the depression liberated her from business". 1935 the Delaunays moved to rue Saint-Simon 16. By the end of 1934 Sonia was working on designs for the 1937
Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne, for which she and Robert worked together on decorating two pavilions: the
Pavillon des Chemins de Fer and the ''Palais de l'Air''. Sonia however did not want to be part of the contract for the commission, but chose to help Robert if she wanted. She said "I am free and mean to remain so." The murals and painted panels for the exhibition were executed by fifty artists including
Albert Gleizes,
Léopold Survage,
Jacques Villon,
Roger Bissière and
Jean Crotti. Robert Delaunay died of cancer in October 1941.
Later life (1945 – 1979) painted by Sonia DelaunayAfter the World War II, Sonia was a board member of the
Salon des Réalités Nouvelles for several years. Sonia and her son Charles in 1964 donated 114 works by Sonia and Robert to the
Musée National d'Art Moderne.
Alberto Magnelli told her "she and
Braque were the only living painters to have been shown at the
Louvre". In 1966 she published
Rythmes-Couleurs (colour-rhythms), with 11 of her
gouaches reproduced as
pochoirs and texts by
Jacques Damase, and in 1969
Robes poèmes (poem-dresses), also with texts by Jacques Damase containing 27 pochoirs. For Matra, she decorated a
Matra 530. In 1975 Sonia was named an officer of the
French Legion of Honor. From 1976 she developed a range of textiles, tableware and jewellery with French company Artcurial, inspired by her work from the 1920s. Her autobiography, ''Nous irons jusqu'au soleil
(We shall go up to the sun'') was published in 1978. In 1967 (25 February – 5 April) she was a part of an exhibition of artist-decorated cars entitled 'Cinq voitures personnalis
ées par cinq artistes contemporains' ('Five Cars Personalized by Five Contemporary Artists') organized by the journal R
éalités as a fundraiser for French medical research. She designed the pattern for a Matra 530 by experimenting with optical effects causing the car to recompose the pattern into a light blue shade when in motion 'so as not to attract other drivers' attention to the point of causing accidents through distraction.' Sonia Delaunay died 5 December 1979, in Paris, aged 94. She was buried in
Gambais, next to Robert Delaunay's grave. Her son,
Charles Delaunay, became an expert in jazz music during the 1930s. He was a jazz critic, organizer of jazz concerts and a founder of the
Hot Club of France (the first jazz club in France) and the first editor of
Jazz Hot Magazine, the club's official publication. ==Legacy==