Distinguished by a profound antinaturalism [...], the Portrait de Madame Carlier perhaps represents one of the first attempts to implement the theory of simultaneous contrasts, particularly apparent in the construction of the mass of hair, rendered by means of the regular juxtapositioning of colours. 

Portraits were a constant feature in Robert Delaunay’s art. His interest in them was not restricted to his early years of activity, but continued throughout his career. 

Self-taught, without any kind of traditional or academic education, but simply experience acquired as a theatre decorator, Delaunay began painting in the early 20th century, making his debut at the Salon des Indépendants in Paris in 1904. 

Produced in around 1906, the Portrait de Madame Carlier (Portrait of Madame Carlier) dates to a period of major transition, when the artist’s interest in French Post-Impressionist painting was combined with his early reflections on colour theory, as advocated many years earlier by Michel-Eugène Chevreul and the US scientist Ogden Nicholas Rood. 

This moment of growth took place while he was forging a friendship with the painter Jean Metzinger, which played a decisive role in his development of the portrait genre. Indeed, a series of portraits painted by both artists represented the outcome of a shared interest in this subject matter. Distinguished by a profound antinaturalism (and by a break-up of colours that reveals the influence of Henri-Edmond Cross rather than Georges Seurat), the Portrait de Madame Carlier perhaps represents one of the first attempts to implement the theory of simultaneous contrasts, particularly apparent in the construction of the mass of hair, rendered by means of the regular juxtapositioning of colours. Friends of Delaunay’s uncle, the Carliers were a middle-class family who owned a summer home in Vaulxde- Cernay (not far from the French capital), which Robert began to visit as early as 1905. This friendship with the Carliers is also illustrated by another painting that can be ascribed to the same family context: the Portrait of Henri Carlier (fig. 1), perhaps painted at the same time, which presents comparable characteristics and dimensions.¹ 

The Portrait of Madame Carlier was exhibited for the first time in 1912, during Delaunay’s solo exhibition at the Galerie Barbazanges in Paris (which hosted the exhibition by the painter Marie Laurencin at the same time). Delaunay did not limit himself to presenting his most recent work in this exhibition, although it was well represented by La ville (The City) series and his “towers”. Instead he chose to exhibit some of his less recent works too, reserving a space for these portraits.² It was at this exhibition that Guillame Apollinaire observed his strong development as an artist (stating: “Robert Delaunay occupait déjà une place importante parmi les artistes de sa génération. Cette exposition est bien faite pour renforcer la bonne opinion que l’on avait de l’intégrité de son art”³), while the severe critic Louis Vauxcelles was unable to tolerate his work from six years earlier, talking down its importance: “Avant d’être cubiste, M. Delaunay pointilla lourdement, à la manière du jeune Metzinger. Tout cela est enfantin.”⁴ After the artist’s death, his work was the object of revived interest, particularly as a result of the retrospectives devoted to him over the years, designed to reposition his activity within the broader context of the international avant-garde. 

After a European tour, which saw this work visit France, the Netherlands and the UK, the Portrait of Madame Carlier arrived in Turin in 1960, where it featured in the Robert e Sonia Delaunay exhibition, which opened at the Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna in March of that year.⁵ The portrait was exhibited on the same wall as its male pair (Portrait of Henri Carlier), with the painting La mer (The Sea, 1905) in between them (fig. 2). It is therefore probable that Francesco Federico Cerruti’s acquisition of the work at a Tajan auction in Paris in 2006 is linked to the memory of that exhibition in Turin in 1960. 

Alessandro Botta 

¹ There seems to be some disagreement about the relationship between the two sitters: some scholars believe they were a married couple (Hoog 1967, p. 37; P. Rousseau, “Robert Delaunay, Jean Metzinger et le divisionnisme de Signac”, in Münster-Grenoble- Weimar 1996-97, p. 184), while others think they had a filial relationship, seeing the woman - who appears older - as the mother of the man (Vriesen/Imdahl 1967, p. 18; Bernier/Schneider-Maunoury 1995, p. 61). Guy Habasque was the first to suggest that the two paintings were produced in Vaulx-de-Cernay (G. Habasque, “Catalogue de l’oeuvre de R. Delaunay”, in Francastel 1957, pp. 248-249, nos. 24-25). Unlike the female portrait, the Portrait of Henri Carlier is signed and dated (1906) and measures 64 x 60 cm. It was purchased by the state in 1945 and now forms part of the French national collection.

² Delaunay presented seven portraits on this occasion, painted between 1906 and 1911 (see Paris 1912, nos. 11-17).

³ Apollinaire 1912, p. 2 (“Robert Delaunay already occupied an important place among the artists of his generation. This exhibition serves to reinforce the good opinion we have of the integrity of his art”; my translation).

⁴ Vauxcelles 1912, p. 4 (“Before being Cubist, Monsieur Delaunay ‘dotted’ heavily, in the manner of the young Metzinger. All this is infantile”; my translation).

⁵ The painting appears in the catalogue as the property of Sonia Delaunay, the artist’s wife; in reality, the artwork belonged to the Parisian collection Pierre Durelle. In a letter to the then director of the museum, Vittorio Viale, Durelle himself pointed out the mistake made in the catalogue (see Letter from P. Durelle to V. Viale, 15 March 1960, “Robert and Sonia Delaunay”, SMO 557, Archivio dei Musei Civici, Turin). Organised with the patronage of the Comitato Pittori d’Oggi Francia-Italia (a group that had promoted relations with French art in Turin for years), the exhibition was planned in partnership with the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lyon, which only a year earlier had held an identical exhibition (Lyon 1959).