Composition on an orange background 1932

Fernand Léger created this painting, Composition on an orange background with gouache, a type of opaque watercolor. Léger was deeply affected by his experiences in World War I. The war had a transformative effect on his art. After the war, his work moved towards depicting the beauty of the mechanical and the industrial age. He believed in the power of art to reflect and shape society. Léger once said, "It is necessary to emerge from the anecdotal and particular in order to attain the general and universal." Looking at this artwork, it feels as though we are presented with an image of the modern world. It reflects a move away from traditional representation towards abstraction. The shapes in shades of black, white, and gray are flattened. They are outlined in bold to capture the changing world around him, and convey the emotional and social experience of living in the industrial age. This composition allows us to meditate on the relationship between abstraction and representation in modern art. We can ponder its role in expressing the profound shifts in identity and experience that accompanied the rise of industrial society.