Sonia Delaunay and the World’s Fair in Paris 1937 – The Arcade Gallery

This spring, Skissernas Museum – Museum of Artistic Process and Public Art will be showcasing Sonia Delaunay’s monumental paintings Propeller, Aeroplane Engine and Dashboard. They were created for the Aviation Pavilion at the World’s Fair in Paris in 1937 and have been permanently exhibited in the Museum’s International Gallery since 1965. At the same time, documentary material about Delaunay’s artistic work for the exhibition in Paris and the Museum’s acquisition of the large paintings will be displayed. Original graphics from the Museum’s collection will provide examples of Sonia Delaunay’s pioneering, abstract pattern and colour compositions. These are works that have influenced artists for decades and continue to inspire today.

Sonia Delaunay (1885–1979) was born in Odessa in Russia (now Ukraine) and arrived in Paris as a young woman; she would go on to become one of the most prominent and innovative artists of the Paris avant-garde in the early 1900s. She worked across the boundaries of many different techniques and materials, collaborating with several of the most prominent poets and choreographers of the time. She celebrated modern life and developed new ideas on colour theory together with her husband Robert Delaunay, who also contributed with major works for the World’s Fair in Paris.

Sonia Delaunay’s work was presented in a separate exhibition at Skissernas Museum in 2007. The current exhibition runs concurrently with the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art’s presentation, Sonia Delaunay, the biggest ever exhibition in Scandinavia of the artist’s work. Skissernas Museum has loaned works to be shown at Louisiana, including Portugal, a colourful sketch for the Railway Pavilion at the 1937 World’s Fair, and a small painting entitled Danseuse, created as early as 1916. The works are usually displayed in the Museum’s International Gallery.

Read more about the Sonia Delaunay exhibition at Louisiana (until 12 June 2022).

Holders of an annual subscription to Skissernas Museum benefit from a “Two for one” offer on entrance tickets to Louisiana. The offer is valid throughout 2022.

The Arcade Gallery is a smaller space used by the Museum for temporary exhibitions.