1910 -1940s · abstraction, simultaneism, Bauhaus and mechanical modernity

From Kandinsky to Delaunay, Léger, Klee and Mondrian, the circle becomes in turn a floating body, a disk of light, an urban gear or rhythmic measure: a simple form capable of organizing all modernity.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the circle gradually left its role as a represented element to become an autonomous force of composition. This transformation does not come from a single school. At Robert Delaunay, the colored discs and arcs translate simultaneous light: the chromatic contrasts produce a sensation of rotation and expansion without a mechanical movement being actually painted. His Discs and Rhythms make color the main driving force of the painting. His Discs and Rhythms make color the main driving force of the painting. Fernand Léger approaches the round shape from the city and the machine. Wheels, panels, letters, silhouettes and architectural fragments fit together in a firm space where the disc participates in collective energy from modern life. Wassily Kandinsky gives the circle a more interior dimension. At the Bauhaus, he analyzes his tension with the square and the line; on a black background, transparent discs can float like sounds or celestial bodies. Paul Klee often prefers a more intimate cadence. Small colored units, complementary oppositions and measured repetitions compose a rhythm for him that reads almost like a score. Piet Mondrian pushes the idea of rhythm towards the orthogonal network, recalling that abstract movement can arise without curves, at intervals and changes of color. Together, these approaches show that the circle cannot have a fixed meaning. sun, eye, wheel or planet, but its modern power comes precisely from its ability to act before any identification. Size, repetition, overlap, contrast and distance are enough to create speed, balance or suspension. Faithful reproduction must preserve the geometry of the contours, the exact intensity of the colored ratios, the quality of the backgrounds and the intervals between shapes: slightly moving a disc or weakening a hue would modify the entire rhythm. The selection "Circles, discs and abstract rhythms" notably compares Some Circles - Wassily Kandinsky and Simultaneous Disc - Robert Delaunay. Its reading favors composition.

In modern abstraction, the circle does not illustrate movement: by its color, its repetition and its place, it produces it directly in the gaze.