Sonia Delauney

Known for her love of color and being a pivotal figure for the women's arts movement, Sonia Delauney has inspired generations of artists ranging from interest in painting, textiles, fashion, and more.

Delauney lived quite extravagantly with her second husband, Robery Delauney, a famous painter who often overshadowed his equally talented and brillant wife. Sonia had quite a gift for the arts and treated them all with high calliber, tackling a project of a huge canvas with as much passion as her home furniture. She loved combining colors and filled her home with bright and bold patterns and color...eventually she channeled her creative energy to the fashion world.

Her travels throughout Europe during her adulthood inspired her immensly in particular the colors found from her stays in Portugal and the beautiful sea side...the time in her life when she was her happiest. After her time in Portugal, she traveled to Paris were she drifted away from her painting and focused more directly into the fashion world. Not only were people buying her dresses, but her bold patterned textile designs were immensly popular as well.

Life for the Delauney's became harsh during the Great Depressions years where they were incapable of producing an income to meet their "socialite" lifestyle they had been embracing over the past decades. When Robert passed away in 1941 Sonia spent many years putting all of her energy is showcasing Robert's work and as a result, her own life was on the decline. She was getting progressively ill, had few finds, and became severly depressed. When Robert's art work finally gained enough recognition from the world market...she focused once again on herself. In the 1960s, despite hardships from losing many of her friends, she was able to pick-up her spirits as she befriended Jacques Damase. Damase encouraged her to focus on showing off her talent and work to the world and she listened. In 1979, after almost a decade and a half of luxury and respect from the art world for her talent and work, Sonia died peacefully.

Her colorful prints and patterns are now used as inspiration for many fashion designers such as Tory Burch, Emanuel Ungaro, and Nicolas Ghesquire.

Here's a look into some of Sonia's fashion sketches as well as colorful paintings: