L’Équipe 1944

Fernand Léger made this painting, L’Équipe, with oil on canvas. Léger worked with bold, flat colours and simplified forms, and it's all about how he puts the figures together. The figures have a graphic, almost diagrammatic presence, yet Léger doesn't hide his brushstrokes. The brown ground, the texture of the paint; it feels immediate and present. Look at how the figures are outlined in black, and how the black paint is thin in places but thick and almost waxy in others, like icing on a cake. Notice, too, the yellow and white branches in the top left corner. They add a counterpoint to the blocky forms, and suggest some kind of outdoor space. Léger was super into the modern world, and you can see the influence of early Cubism, especially in how he breaks down forms. Léger’s work reminds me of Picabia, another artist with an enthusiasm for machines and diagrams, but where Picabia is ironic, Léger is sincere. Art's all about conversations; there are no right or wrong answers.