23.02.2026
Lucien Arkas Art Center opened its doors to art enthusiasts on April 5. At its first event, the center hosted Anna Hiddleston, Curator of International Projects at Centre Pompidou, where participants listened to a talk on the practice of Sonia and Robert Delaunay focused on color, rhythm, and modernity.
Lucien Arkas Art Center, the seventh stop on Arkas Art’s İzmir art route, opened at Mistral İzmir in Bayraklı, featuring 2,500 square meters of space and a multi-purpose design. As part of the opening program, Anna Hiddleston, Curator of International Projects at Centre Pompidou – Musée national d’art moderne met with its first visitors.
As part of the center’s opening, Hiddleston, who also curated Sonia & Robert Delaunay: Inventing Modern Colour, which presented two works by Sonia and Robert Delaunay from the Centre Pompidou collection explained that these works, which hold an important place in the history of modern art with their exploration of color and light, serve as a preview of the major thematic season of exhibitions to open in September.
The Delaunay Couple’s Approach to Color Was the Main Focus of the Talk
During the talk, Anna Hiddleston explained how the Delaunay couple created a new abstract language where color becomes the primary subject of the painting. She underlined that the Simultanéisme theory developed by the artists is based on the movement, rhythm, and perceptual impact created when colors come together. She discussed how the theory of Simultaneism fed into their practice, where each color impacts the perception of the colours that surround it, to create a vibratory effect that makes the canvas appear to move.
She went on to describe to the audience how the electric lights that appeared during Paris’s modernization, the speed of urban life, billboards, street signs and modern transport were transformed into abstract rhythms in the Delaunays’ work.
Hiddleston explained that the two works presented at the opening reflect this approach, and that the relationship between color, light, and movement played a defining role in the transformation of modern art.
A Multidisciplinary Approach to Art that Aligns with the Center’s Program
The talk also explored examples of how the Delaunay couple pursued their color-focused work beyond painting, in areas such as textiles, fashion, stage design, and book design.
Their wide range of production, from Sonia Delaunay’s textile works to Robert Delaunay’s monumental compositions interpreting the modern city through rhythmic abstractions, revealed how the artists restructured modern life through color.
Further to the curation of exhibitions such as Francis Bacon and Georgia O’Keeffe at the Centre Pompidou, Hiddleston recently curated an exhibition in AlUla, Saudi Arabia, while working on a series of exhibitions for Arkas Art in Izmir. She is also developing projects in Brussels at Kanal – Centre Pompidou and in Japan within the scope of Centre Pompidou’s international Constellation program during its closure.
The exhibition Sonia & Robert Delaunay: Inventing Modern Colour will welcome art lovers from April 5 to July 12, 2026.
The First Step of the Centre Pompidou Collaboration
Lucien Arkas Art Center will be positioned as the venue of the international collaboration between Arkas Art and Centre Pompidou for five years. Within the scope of the program, two exhibitions per year from the Centre Pompidou collection will be presented visitors in Izmir.
The Delaunay works presented at the opening represent the first step in this long-term collaboration.
A New Cultural Space for Izmir
Designed as a multi-purpose facility with a conference hall, foyer, and educational programs, Lucien Arkas Art Center aims to offer an active year-round arts program with workshops, conferences, film screenings, and performances. The talk held on the opening day reinforced the center’s position as a new destination contributing to the development of contemporary art in Izmir.
