Sonia Delaunay: A Life of Color

K-Gr 2—Eyes and hands will gravitate toward the charming jewel-toned illustrations in this picture book biography of European modern artist Sonia Delaunay. The narrative is from the point of view of the artist's young son, Charles, as he finds a quilt his mother made for him as a baby. It is composed similarly to his mother's paintings. The quilt prompts Delaunay to explain her work to Charles by taking him on an imaginative journey of the places and ideas that influence her process. From Paris to Portugal to Amsterdam, Sonia allows Charles to experience the music, movements, and imagery that sparked her painting and design work. Readers will be introduced to concepts such as abstraction, expressionism, and how light effects color. Integrated into the book are several reproductions of the artist's works from the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Ramos's artwork echoes the shapes of colors of Delaunay's art brilliantly. The back matter includes a photo of the artist with her son and a more historical explanation of simultanism and Orphism, terms used to describe Delaunay's work as a synthesis of sensory input.