Three sisters 1952

Fernand Léger made this painting, Three Sisters, using oil on canvas. It feels like Leger is putting on a play here with very bold characters. There is an almost cartoon-like approach to the figures, each outlined with dark, confident strokes against a blue background. You can imagine Léger relishing the interplay of shapes and forms. I wonder if he ever struggled like me? Was he ever stuck between what he thought he wanted to say and what the painting was telling him to do? He probably did, right? Look at how he uses the black outline to give his figures a machine-like quality. Léger was fascinated by machines, and you can see how that might have impacted his style. He’s playing with flatness, disrupting conventional perspective. It is like Leger is saying, “Here’s how I see the world, in blocks of colour and shapes, not trying to trick you into thinking it’s a window.” Like so many artists, Leger reminds us that it is always an ongoing conversation.