Robert Delaunay (French, 1885-1941) Sun, Tower, Airplane, 1913 Oil on canvas, 52 x 51 5/8" A. Conger Goodyear Fund, 1964

Robert Delaunay painted how he felt about the time in which he lived. In this painting, he included three marvelous new inventions. The title mentions two of them: a tower and an airplane. Can you find the tower? It's the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, which was the tallest structure in the world when it was built in 1889 for the World's Fair by French engineer Alexandre Eiffel. Most people thought it was ugly when it was built; now it's a world-famous symbol of the city of Paris. Airplanes looked different in 1913 than they do today. Can you find the airplane in the painting? Because of the two wings on each side, it was called a biplane (bi means two- like on a bicycle, which has two wheels). The first one had been successfully flown by the Wright brothers less than ten years before at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. There is one more fairly new invention in the painting that Mr. Delaunay did not mention in the title. It's all the way on the right, and looks a little like a curved stairway or a water wheel. Can you guess what it is? (Here's a clue: George FERRIS invented it in 1893 for the World's Fair in Chicago.)

The "sun" mentioned in the title appears in warm colors all over the painting. The lively, graceful, and energetic way in which Mr. Delaunay painted the sun lets us know how excited he was about all of the new developments happening in his lifetime. Can you think of other things about the painting that show his enthusiasm? If you had to paint or draw a picture about important inventions in our own time, what would you include?