The outing in the country 1954

Fernand Léger made 'The outing in the country' using oil on canvas, and when you look at it, you see that the colours and shapes are all very strong and distinct. Léger wasn’t trying to make something that looks like reality, it's more about how the shapes and colours feel when they're put together. It's like he's building the painting out of blocks and cylinders. Notice how the figures are outlined with a hard, black line. It makes them look like they're made of metal, almost robotic, like characters in a play. Look at the legs of the figure in the centre, there are so many toes! The artist is unafraid to be playful. Léger's art reminds me a bit of Stuart Davis, they both had this way of taking everyday things and turning them into something totally new. This is what art does, it takes the world apart and puts it back together in ways we never imagined.