(born April 12, 1885, Paris, Fr. — died Oct. 25, 1941, Montpellier) French painter. He spent his early career as a part-time designer of stage scenery and came under the influence of Neo-Impressionism, Fauvism, and Cubism. In 1909 – 11 his colour experiments culminated in a series of paintings of the Eiffel Tower, which combined fragmented Cubist forms with dynamic movement and vibrant colour. The introduction of bright colour to Cubism — a style that came to be known as Orphism — distinguished his work from that of the more orthodox Cubist painters and influenced the artists of Der Blaue Reiter. With his wife, the Ukrainian-born painter and textile designer Sonia Terk Delaunay (1885 – 1979), he painted abstract mural decorations for the 1937 Paris Exposition.
