Femme allongée 1920

Fernand Léger laid down washes of grey and brown to create this reclining figure. I can imagine him really thinking about form, reducing the body to its most essential shapes. There’s a tenderness in the way he depicts the curve of an arm or the gentle slope of a leg. And I wonder, what was he thinking when he decided on this muted palette? It’s like he’s stripping away the distractions of color to focus on the underlying structure. It makes me think of Cezanne, his quiet rigor, how he also used to explore the geometry of everyday objects and bodies. Léger's got his own thing going on, though, a kind of industrial elegance that feels very twentieth century. Artists like Léger are always in conversation with one another. Their art reflects their world. In this way, painting is a way to find and make meaning.