Saint-Séverin No. 5

Robert Delaunay's "Saint-Séverin No. 5," painted in 1909, invites us to step inside the famed Saint-Séverin church in Paris. This striking piece, measuring 0.59 meters high and 0.38 meters wide, is currently housed right here in the Moderna Museet. Delaunay doesn't aim for a realistic depiction of the church. Instead, he uses vibrant colors and bold brushstrokes to capture the essence of this grand Gothic space. Notice how the blues, greens, and yellows of the nave draw your eye upwards to the soaring vaulted ceiling. The columns, painted with such energy, seem to stretch and reach towards the apse, leading our gaze towards a point beyond the canvas.