Woman with Parrot 1941

Fernand Léger made this painting, Woman with Parrot, with ink and watercolour. The painting feels like it’s coming into being, shifting between states as a line struggles to become form. It has that tension between the flatness of the paper and the desire to create a sense of depth and volume, like he’s pushing and pulling at the surface. You can imagine him thinking, as he puts down the marks, how to reconcile the geometry of modern life with the organic forms of nature. Is that the conversation between the woman, who has been constructed from simple lines, and the bird, who seems built out of so many layers? Léger's work has a mechanical quality, but here the watercolor gives it an openness and lightness of touch. And look at the colours, pinks, greens and yellows, how do they activate one another? I love it when a painting feels like it’s still thinking and breathing.