Le Déjeuner 1921

Fernand Léger made this painting, 'Le Déjeuner', with oil on canvas to explore the Cubist style. Look at how the painting’s surface is built from geometric shapes and simplified forms. Léger might have been thinking about how to represent objects in a new way. Like, what if a table could be a circle and a rectangle? And, what if a face could be a bunch of cylinders? The black shapes kind of dominate everything and the grey planes flatten the scene. Léger’s use of neutral colors, such as white, black, and gray, mixed with brighter colors, like red, green, and yellow, creates a nice balance. It also emphasizes the industrial and mechanical themes, something he did often. Painters always inspire each other, don’t you think? It’s as though they’re having a chat across the ages. It’s not about copying, but more like taking a little something and making it your own.