Here you’ll find an easy step-by-step tutorial video for a Delaunay Art Project and Delaunay Coloring Page. It’s fun to slice and dice lots of circles.

Delaunay Circles

This Delaunay-inspired art project is all about bold color and simple geometry. Students create stacks of concentric circles, then add interest the way Robert Delaunay often did—by splitting a few circles in half so the colors “flip” from one side to the other. A circle template (or any round lid) is a big help here, especially when students want to keep their circles centered and evenly spaced.

Robert Delaunay (1885–1941) was a French artist who, along with his wife Sonia Delaunay and other artists, helped launch the Orphism movement. Orphism took ideas from Cubism but pushed them in a new direction—toward bright, energetic color and repeating geometric shapes. Delaunay’s work became an important step toward more abstract art, where color and shape matter just as much as recognizable subjects.

Delaunay didn’t just paint—he also wrote about what he was trying to do. He believed that color could stand on its own, with the power to create form and feeling without needing a realistic image. By placing colors next to each other in strong contrasts and harmonies, he thought the viewer’s eye would sense a kind of movement. Much of his career was spent exploring that idea, and his experiments with color went on to influence many artists who came after him.

Student Delaunay Art Gallery

Delaunay art project — A Delaunay Circle art journal drawing, with watercolor pencils

Delaunay Circles, Sharpie brush makers on finger paint paper

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Materials for Delaunay Art Project

Drawing Paper

This is the good stuff you can buy in bulk for a good price. Note: All of the links shared here are affiliate links.

Circle Template

Circle Stencil & Ruler for Drafting & Drawing,3 Pack,Large & Small Sizes

Sharpie Markers Black

A permanent marker will give you a dark black color.

Pencils

I like how this brand always makes nice dark lines.

Colored Pencils or Crayons

A larger pack will offer more color choices.

Directions

Time needed: 1 hour

How to draw Delaunay Circles

Collect tools of a large lid to trace, circle template and a ruler.
Use a lid to trace a circle in a corner. It should be about 5” wide.
Use template to trace a large circle in the opposite corner, add center dots.
Use a ruler to connect the two dots.
Use template to add more circles inside. Align so they are concentric.
Draw at least three more medium circles around the page.
Use template to add more circles inside. Align so they are concentric.
Fill in any other open spaces with one or more small circles.
Trace with a marker and color. Try using a limit of 6 colors or less so that they are all repeated several times.

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