Robert Delaunay’s painting the Eiffel Tower was regarded as the ultimate symbol of the machine age. His experimentation with fragmentation of form has a rigid and recognizable motif. The Eiffel Tower shatters and planes merge with the forms of the surrounding buildings Delaunay frequently repeated the same subject many times, and this allowed him to explore new techniques. He believed light could be expressed as color independent of any objective content; and declared color alone is form and content. This idea ran counter to the Cubist ideas of Picasso and Braque, who were more interested in the analysis of physical form than in light. (Encyclopedia.com) This piece differs from analytic cubism because of the role that color plays. Delaunay disapproved the analytical period of the work of Picasso and Braque because of their rejection of color. In the image of the Eiffel Tower we see a real concern with color and its role created energy and movement. The use of color brings a deep expressive quality to the work and the chaotic fragmented structure emphases that physical structure is not so important.
Working from his memories of Paris, Delaunay showed the tower from many view points at once, suggesting movement through space and time and expressing a vision. He introduced an element of time and was able to synthesize several impressions of the tower, and the perpetual experience opens us to an inner awareness. Taking in the vast space the tower inhibits our vision begins to swing back and forth between foreground and background, shifting between its position as an autonomous three dimensional object and its part as an element of pattern in the picture surface as a whole. These optical effects become even more apparent in Delaunay’s later works from the Window series, which led him to a higher level of abstraction. (Cross)The Eiffel Tower series marks the beginning of Delaunay’s artistic deconstruction from in his earlier works; the fragmentation, shattered elements, energy, and immateriality of light become the essence of deep perception.
The poet Apollinaire described Delaunay’s distinct style of work as Orphism in reference to the musician Orpheus in Greek mythology whose music had magical powers. Many famous abstract artists found strong links between music and their work because neither depended on the imitation of phenomena found in the natural world. (Encyclopedia.com) Delaunay epitomizes Modernism; all the paintings are dramatic portrayals, pulsating with energy and present an elusive visual. Unlike such other highly regarded artists of that period as Picasso, Matisse, and Kandinsky, he did not maintain the innovations that propelled him into the limelight in his youth into his later work. As a result, his body of work can seem uneven, but his wife's work as an extension of her husband's theories and early discoveries helped to establish his reputation as a significant painter of the 20th century. (Encyclopedia.com) He was an enterprising painter whose influence to the art world was much greater than his art. The paintings "Eiffel Tower with Trees" and "Eiffel Tower" currently rest at the Guggenheim Museum, New York, while "The Red Tower" is at the Arts Institute of Chicago.
Marc Chagall’s avant-garde painting Paris through the Window is a piece inspired by the orphic cubism of his colleague Robert Delaunay. The overlapping planes of vivid color in the sky of the cityscape mimic Delaunay’s series of the Eiffel tower; both artists used Paris as a metaphor for modernity. (Blessing) Delaunay's "Eiffel Tower" and Chagall's "Paris through the Window" typify the revolutionary work of the Parisian avant-garde. Cubism certainly got to Chagall, as did the swirling disks of Robert Delaunay’s
Orphism. In fact, what Chagall mainly saw when he looked out of his window was a world with perspective shattered only to be reconstructed in planes and spheres. Marc Chagall forged relationships with several other pioneers of the modernist movement. Under the influence of Metzinger and Robert Delaunay, among others, he introduced fractured forms to his enchanted scenes of city life. Chagall’s parachutist seems to refer to a contemporary experience, because in1912 the first successful jump occurred. The painting is an enlarged version of a window view from the self portrait painted one year earlier, contrasting the artists birth place. Chagall didn’t prefer literal interpretations of his paintings, but instead thought of them as lyrical evocations. The two faced man is seen to mediate between two worlds; interior versus exterior space, past and present, the imaginary and the real. The green violinist evoked nostalgia for his homeland, and his cultural and religious legacy is illuminated by the figure of the violinist dancing in a rustic village. In a painting like this it is clear that the artist favoured life of the mind, memory, and magical Symbolism over realistic representation. (Blessing) Many artists from around the world saw the city of Paris as a symbol of culture, freedom, and modernity in the early part of the twentieth century. Artists’, sculptors, writers, and poets settled in the vibrant area of the city which was sprinkled with art galleries, residences, and cafés and it was there this group discovered each other’s work. (Art)There was a commonly held notion that Chagall remained a small town artist at heart much like the fiddlers in his paintings, even when he was associating with the Parisian elite.
Using shining colors, strange figures, and unusual composition this painting speaks volumes about a mysterious and indecipherable Paris where nothing or nobody is really what they appear to be.When we take a closer look we see a human headed yellow cat perching on a window sill; the Eiffel Tower looming above the many roofs, and a parachute jumper descending from the sky. An upside down train and two figures float past; a blue-faced, man lurks in a corner, holding a heart in his blue palm. The delicate flowers and subjects are saturated with full-spectrum colors, but what makes it truly memorable are the slashing Cubist inspired planes that slice and animate the images. (WILKIN) Through fine works in many mediums, we watch Chagall's characteristic imagery evolve. The reason this work is still powerful for us today is because we see the way he formed his distinctive identity in the many hued images of his famous motifs. “Chagall, of course, wanted to be loved, by the world he left behind and the world he eventually conquered with paint and brush. He said so in 1922, in the last lines of his memoir: "And perhaps Europe will love me and, with her, my Russia." Does anyone leave home for any other reason?” (Kennicott) The best thing about "Paris through the Window" is the vision it gives of Chagall working desperately to earn the love he craved and it's clear that Chagall had won the battle as he reached a level of visual metaphor seldom attempted in modern art.
Art, Philadelphia Museum of. Paris Through the Window: Marc Chagall and His Circle. 10 July 2011. 10 May 2012 <http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/401.html>.
Blessing, Jennifer. Guggenheim:Marc Chagall . 2011. 10 May 2012 <http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/show-full/piece/?search=Marc%20Chagall&page=1&f=People&cr=3>.
Cross, Susan. Guggenheim: Robert Delaunay. 2012. 9 May 2012 <http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/show-full/piece/?search=Solomon%20R.%20Guggenheim%20Founding%20Collection&page=1&f=Major%20Acquisition&cr=8>.
Encyclopedia.com, The. Robert Delaunay. 2004. 9 May 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Robert_Delaunay.aspx>.
Kennicott, Philip. The Washington Post: Chagall Through the Eyes of Paris. 4 March 2011. 10 May 2012 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/04/AR2011030404924.html>.
WILKIN, KAREN. The Wall Street Journal: Beyond Fragile Fantasies. 4 May 2011. 10 May 2012 <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704517404576222631997971992.html#>.
