The Woman in Blue 1912

Fernand Léger made this painting, The Woman in Blue, using oil paint, but we don't know exactly when. Look at the way Léger breaks up the figure into geometric shapes. It's almost like he's building a machine out of flesh and bone. The blue square in the center feels like a solid block, but then you notice the little red dashes on top, and suddenly it's not so fixed anymore. The surface has a kind of gritty texture, like the paint was scrubbed onto the canvas. It's not smooth or glossy; it's got this rough, industrial feel. Then the more you look, the more it starts to shimmer and vibrate. This push and pull between stillness and movement, between the mechanical and the organic, is what makes Léger so compelling. You could almost see the influence of someone like Picasso, but with a harder, more streamlined edge. Art's just one big conversation, right?