La grande parade 1949

Fernand Léger made this parade of circus performers in oil paint, laying down bold swathes of green, yellow, pink, and blue. I can imagine him, brush in hand, building up those flat shapes, delineating each form with a confident black line. What I love about Léger is his ability to make everyone look like robots or animated toys—somehow both human and machine. He wasn’t trying to trick the eye with realism. Instead, he embraced the flatness of the canvas and the physicality of paint. The texture looks smooth, and yet I feel the movement in the bodies of the performers. They are a merry band, caught in a strange dance. Think of Picasso, Picabia, and other artists who also played with the figure. Léger was one of the greats, and together, through experimentation, they have shaped our visual world. Artists are in an ongoing conversation across time. We look, we think, we argue, we borrow. And we make new stuff!