Sonia Delaunay — painter with roots in the Russian Empire
Sonia Delaunay was a Ukrainian-born French artist who co-founded Orphism — the colour-based art movement — with her husband Robert Delaunay and became one of the 20th century's most important abstract artists. Her simultaneous contrasts of colour revolutionised both fine art and fashion design.
Tracing the roots — Odessa (Ukraine)
Born Sarah Stern in Hradyzk (near Odessa, Russian Empire, now Ukraine) in 1885 and adopted by her uncle Henri Terk in St. Petersburg — from whom she took the name Delaunay-Terk — Sonia's Russian origins infuse her art with the intensity and boldness of colour that characterises the Russian avant-garde tradition. She became a French citizen but carried Odessa within her palette.
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Odessa (Ukraine). At the time, this region lay within the Russian Empire, which spanned from Poland to the Pacific.