“The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum presents Harmony and Dissonance: Orphism in Paris, 1910–1930, the first in-depth examination of Orphism, which emerged in Paris among a cosmopolitan group of artists in the early 1910s—when changes brought on by modernity were radically altering notions of time and space. Open from November 8, 2024, to March 9, 2025, the presentation features over 80 artworks comprising painting, sculpture, works on paper, and ephemera, installed across five levels of the museum’s spiral rotunda. 

The poet Guillaume Apollinaire coined the term ‘Orphism’ in 1912 to describe artists who were moving away from Cubism, toward an abstract, multisensory mode of expression. Apollinaire’s concept referenced the Greek mythological poet and lyre player Orpheus who swayed nature and challenged death with his song equating the ephemeral abstraction of music with Orphism’s transcendent character.” —  Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

Harmony and Dissonance: Orphism in Paris, 1910–1930 is organized by Tracey Bashkoff, Senior Director of Collections and Senior Curator, and Vivien Greene, Senior Curator, 19th- and Early 20th-Century Art, with the support of Bellara Huang, Curatorial Assistant, Exhibitions. 

Title image: Robert Delaunay, Circular Forms (Formes circulaires), 1930. Oil on canvas, 50 3/4 X 76 3/4 in. (128.9 X 194.9 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection 49.1184. Photo: Kristopher McKay, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.

Images courtesy Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.