Les Plongeurs noirs 1943

Fernand Léger made this joyful watercolor called *Les Plongeurs Noirs* - or the Black Divers - in 1943. Look at the way he dives right into colour! It's all about bold colour planes and confident black outlines. You can almost feel the brush dancing across the paper, laying down vibrant swathes of pigment in one go. The colours are bright and clear: yellows, blues, greens, reds. They aren’t blended or fussy, just there, doing their thing. Notice the blacks; they look like they were added last, like confident cartoons. It gives the whole image a playful, energetic vibe, right? I love the blobby shapes and how they bump up against each other to suggest figures tumbling through space. It feels like an explosion of bodies, a celebration of form and movement. It’s like a jazz solo, where the artist is riffing on shapes and colours, letting the painting take him where it wants to go. It is similar to work by Stuart Davis, who, like Léger, created a visual language that spoke to the dynamism of modern life. In the end it’s all up for grabs, just remember to dive in!