Color as a Generative Principle in the Work of Sonia Delaunay

Abstract This presentation interprets the use of color in the work of Sonia Delaunay not as a decorative or form-following element, but as an autonomous, generative principle. The analysis is based on the recognition that in Delaunay’s works color does not fill pre-existing forms, but rather generates visual structure, rhythm, and spatial relations itself. The presentation examines the autonomy of color within the historical context of early twentieth-century Orphism, through the shared theoretical foundations of Sonia and Robert Delaunay, and then places this historical model in contrast with contemporary algorithmic image culture. In the age of digital and artificial intelligence–based image generation, color is often treated as data, as an optimizable parameter. By contrast, Delaunay’s work offers an alternative model in which color operates as an experiential, bodily, and temporal event. The aim of the presentation is not empirical analysis, but the outlining of a theoretical framework in which Sonia Delaunay’s oeuvre can be interpreted as a relevant point of reference for the critique of contemporary visual systems. ORCID Researcher Profile Open Science Framework project page