Circular Forms (Formes circulaires)

Rings and arcs of yellow, blue, green, red, and white curve across a deep purple ground, their circular bands overlapping as if several discs had been laid one on top of another. The shapes bend and intersect in rhythmic sweeps, giving the whole surface a sense of turning motion without any fixed center. This oil painting, titled Circular Forms, was made in 1930 by Robert Delaunay and is held at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, having entered the collection as part of its founding holdings. Delaunay, a French painter born in 1885 and died in 1941, worked within Orphism, an abstract approach built on color and form rather than recognizable subjects. Looking closely, the viewer can trace how the colored bands slip behind and in front of one another, creating layered depth purely through the arrangement of curved lines and hue.