Les Pêcheurs 1921

Fernand Léger made this painting, Les Pêcheurs, with oil paint on canvas. Look at the palette: it’s all muted browns, greens, grays and creams. These flat and softly modeled shapes combine to create a scene of labor. I can imagine Léger approaching the canvas, maybe he stepped back and squinted, considering the balance of forms and the dance between abstraction and representation. Did he start with a sketch, or dive right in, letting the composition emerge through layers of paint? I like to think about the push and pull between intention and chance, the happy accidents that can lead a painting in unexpected directions. There’s something really grounding in the simplified and muted color and the somewhat blocky forms, it reminds me of so many other figurative painters, all in conversation about how to represent the human form. It shows how we continue to return to the figure. In the end, all artists borrow, steal, and build upon one another's ideas, creating a vibrant tapestry of creativity across time.