Sonia Delaunay didn’t just paint, she built a universe. Through her bold works, blending geometric shapes and vibrant colors, she redefined the boundaries between art and everyday life. Beyond her brushes and fabrics, the artist left behind powerful words, reflecting her vision of the world and her relentless creative quest.
With the editorial team at Art Shortlist, we’ve selected 10 of her most beautiful quotes. They embody her timeless genius and continue to inspire both artists and art lovers. Let’s dive into the world of this pioneer through her words, filled with poetry and modernity.
by Art Shortlist - December 13, 2024
1 - Beauty refuses to bow to the constraint of meaning.
2 - A loud cry
In the night,
When you see a tiny mouse?
A totem?
A candle?
Or perhaps an idea to illuminate our minds.
3 - What had been said of me until then: muse of Orphism, decorator, Robert Delaunay’s companion. Then they conceded “collaborator, continuator…” before admitting that the work stood on its own.
4 - True modern painting will begin when we understand that color has its own life, that the infinite combinations of color have their poetry and poetic language, much more expressive than the old means. It is a mysterious language, connected to vibrations, the very life of color. In this field, there are infinite new possibilities.
5 - We loved each other in art, as other couples unite through faith, crime, alcohol, or political ambition. The passion for painting was our strongest bond.
6 - I’ve had three lives: one for Robert, one for my son and grandson, and one, much shorter, for myself.
7 - I wanted, for fun, to show the rich variety of women’s curves and body movements […]. My pleasure […] wasn’t in creating a dress or a scarf but in witnessing the birth of a new creature. Afterward, the first liberated women would be imitated by thousands of others. Ready-to-wear fashion would reclaim the conquests of the 1925 era, and poetic dresses would flood the streets.
8 - Take an “M,” put it on a roller coaster. Soon, it flips upside down and becomes a “W.” And if it goes too fast, it screams, “WOW!”.
9 - When Charles was born in January 1911, he had an Empire-style crib. I covered it with a blanket made of scraps of fabric. Russian peasants do this. Observing the arrangement of the fabric pieces, my friends exclaimed, “But that’s cubist!”.
10 - Color is the skin of the world.
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