Originally associated with Orphic Cubism, a style of his own invention which focused more on movement, light and rhythm than on the particular objects depicted on canvas, the influential French painter Robert Delaunay (1885-1941) abandoned representation in 1911 when he joined Wassily Kandinsky's Munich-based "Blaue Reiter" (Blue Rider) group, joining forces with such artists as Franz Marc, Albert Bloch and Paul Klee. The lyricism of Delaunay's color increased from 1912 to 1914, keeping pace with the accelerated perceptual and technical developments of the time. As a leading light of the pre-1920s Paris avant-garde, Delaunay created a new artistic language to express these ideas. Beginning with the groundbreaking, large-format work Hommage a Bleriot" (1914), which honored the pioneering French aviator Louis Bleriot, this catalogue presents an in-depth investigation of Delaunay's life and work during this era and includes ample documentation of his collaboration with his wife, Sonia Delaunay-Terk, as well as the restoration of the major work for which this volume is named."