Here is my previous discussion modified to include the date, estimate and link of the next sale :
The work of Robert and Sonia Delaunay was a real experimental workshop of modern art. Their collaboration was so close that it is unreasonable to consider them separately, although I have not seen an artwork signed by the two artists together.
Before World War I, they use the circle and color to express the pictorial language of life in an abstract vision.
Cubism led them to come back to figurative themes and to the simultaneous expression of form and movement, again through the circle.
A wax painting of 1915 by Sonia on the theme of the Minho market, 91 x 125 cm, was sold for € 4.1 million before fees on June 14, 2002 in Paris by Calmels Cohen over an estimate of € 400K. Brightly colored characters are moving withina vaguely architectured background. This composition rather difficult to decipher, just like the Cubist works of Picasso and Braque at the same time, is in full opposition to any photographic realism.
Another variation on the same subject painted in wax by Sonia in 1916, 93 x 128 cm, is for sale on November 5 by Sotheby's in New York. Its colors are less vivid but more subtle, and the country women at their market are more visible. It is estimated $ 600K, lot 194.
Confirming the relevance of simultaneous analysis of the work of both artists, I note a Portuguese with pumpkin painted in 1916 by Robert, 130 x 97 cm, sold for $ 657K including premium by Sotheby's on May 8, 2008.