Three women with the still life 1920

Fernand Léger made this painting with oil on canvas sometime in the first half of the 20th century. Léger renders three women and a still life in a hard-edged style. The figures are simplified into geometric forms, as if to suggest an industrialized workforce. This is a visual language deeply connected to the rise of machines and mass production. The bodies are deconstructed into cylindrical shapes, each defined by strong lines and flat planes of color. They appear almost mechanically produced, echoing the aesthetics of the assembly line. Even the traditional subject of the still life undergoes a transformation. Léger presents it with the same clinical precision as the figures, eliminating any sense of softness. By adopting this approach, Léger blurs the boundaries between human and machine. He explores the increasing mechanization of modern life, and compels us to consider the effect of industrialization on humanity itself.