Étude pour ‘La Grande parade’ 1948

Fernand Léger made this study for 'La Grande Parade' with gouache and ink on paper, and you can almost feel the push and pull of the brushstrokes as he worked, right? It's like watching a circus come to life, bit by bit, with each dab and line. I imagine Léger in his studio, maybe with some music on, totally absorbed in the process. The clowns, the acrobats, they're not just figures; they're shapes and colors dancing together. Look at that purple blob of a horse, it’s so cartoonish! And then the performers with their funny outfits. The texture of the paper peeks through here and there, reminding us that this is a real, handmade thing. Léger's not trying to fool us into thinking it's anything else. It reminds me a bit of Picasso, with the way he breaks things down into simple forms, but Léger’s got his own thing going on, a kind of joyful energy that's hard to resist. These guys are all in conversation with each other, each pushing the boundaries of what painting can do. It's like they're saying, "Let's see what happens if we try this!"