Nude Woman Reading 1 by Robert Delaunay

This intimate and refined painting by the artist Robert Delaunay, temporarily titled “Nude Woman Reading 1”, revisits the classic theme of the female toilette through a modern plastic language. By placing his composition in a traditional oval format, the painter creates an atmosphere of soft confidence and domestic contemplation. This work marks a subtle transition between sensual figuration and the chromatic research of Orphism, where light caresses the body to reveal its infinite nuances.

A nude woman is depicted from behind in a graceful posture, seated and leaning towards a small dressing table. Her long, wavy red hair cascades down her back, whose translucent skin reflects pearlescent glints of pink, light yellow, and soft green. Her right leg is bent, wearing an opaque black stocking that contrasts sharply with the lightness of her body. In front of her, the wooden dressing table supports a mirror and an open book on a red tablecloth decorated with blue and yellow circular patterns. On the right, a red drapery hangs, while the background of the room is bathed in a deep and soothing blue.

The artist demonstrates here a delicate mastery of oil painting in the treatment of flesh and skin tones. His craftsmanship is expressed in the subtle modeling of volumes and the harmony of thermal contrasts, creating a work of great poetic sensitivity and impeccable artisanal quality.