Le profil bleu 1938

Fernand Léger made "Le profil bleu" with gouache and ink on paper, and what strikes me is how he uses these materials to make something that feels both flat and sculptural. There's a real sense of layering here, of shapes being built up one on top of another. Look at the black ink outlining everything, it really defines the forms, almost like a stained glass window. The colors, they’re not blended or shaded, they're just these bold, flat areas. But it's not cold, it's like he's trying to find the basic building blocks of things. I keep coming back to the blue profile itself, the way it's both a face and just a series of shapes. It reminds me a little of Picasso, but Léger's got this machine-age twist. It's like he's saying, "Even people are just made of parts." But somehow, it’s still really beautiful. That's the magic.