Sonia Delaunay

Before her death in 1979, Delaunay discussed her ideas to create an entrance for Luna Luna with André Heller. 

Artist

Sonia Delaunay

Attraction

Entrance archway with Luna Luna sign

Born

1885, Ukraine

Delaunay co-founded the movement Simultané (“Simultanism”) with her husband and artist Robert Delaunay

Though best known as a painter, Delaunay had a successful career in fashion, textile, and graphic design

She was the first living female artist to have a retrospective at the Louvre in 1964

Fairground view: Sonia Delaunay, Entrance archway with Luna Luna sign. Luna Luna, Hamburg, Germany, 1987.

Sonia Delaunay, Entrance archway with Luna Luna sign. Luna Luna, Hamburg, Germany, 1987.

A key figure in the early twentieth-century Parisian avant-garde, Sonia Delaunay co-founded Simultané (“Simultanism”), a movement based on geometry and color theory. Across her work in visual art, textiles, fashion, furniture design, experimental dance, and theater, Delaunay’s primary pursuit was always color; for instance she never wavered in viewing her dresses as color studies, not to be separated from her painting practice. Delaunay’s artistic approach is defined by her trademark use of concentric circles and simultaneous color contrasts.


Fairground view: Sonia Delaunay, Entrance archway with Luna Luna sign. Luna Luna, Hamburg, Germany, 1987.

Delaunay experimented with Simultanism beyond painting; she envisioned costumes for Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes leading to further collaborations in theater, film, and fashion. In 1913, she premiered her first “simultaneous dress,” worn by the artist at a notorious Parisian dance hall, the Bal Bullier. In 1918, she opened her first boutique Casa Sonia in Madrid and eventually, her own workshop Atelier Simultané in Paris where she developed accessible designs for hats, umbrellas, scarves, and shoes throughout the 1920s and 1930. Delaunay continued experimenting with abstraction in the postwar years by incorporating more angular forms and harlequin colors, which inspired carpets, mosaics, and tapestries.

A key figure in the early twentieth-century Parisian avant-garde, Sonia Delaunay co-founded Simultané (“Simultanism”), a movement based on geometry and color theory.

Fairground view: Sonia Delaunay, Entrance archway with Luna Luna sign. Luna Luna, Hamburg, Germany, 1987.

Before her death in 1979, Delaunay discussed her ideas to create an entrance for Luna Luna with André Heller. Executed by Heller’s artisans, the archway incorporates a steel-frame entrance gate and double-sided electric “LUNA LUNA” sign inspired by her custom-designed alphabet.

Forgotten Fantasy

Los Angeles, CA
Open Until May 12 Open Until May 12

Thirty-six years ago, Luna Luna landed in Hamburg, Germany: the world’s first art amusement park with rides, games, and attractions by visionaries like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, and David Hockney. By a twist of fate, the park’s treasures were soon sealed in 44 shipping containers and forgotten in Texas—until now.