La Femme couchée 1920

Fernand Léger’s “La Femme couchée” is an oil painting that presents the figure as an arrangement of simplified, machine-like forms. Léger embraced modern industrial materials, which led him to flatten space and render the human form as cylindrical volumes and geometric shapes. Here, color is applied with the precision of a machine, in stark contrasts that mimic the bold graphics of advertising posters, and the flat, enameled surfaces of industrial products. Léger was interested in the visual language of modern life, and believed that art should reflect the energy and dynamism of the machine age. His work is a testament to the power of materials and processes to shape our perceptions and understanding of the world around us. The painting is a dialogue between art, industry, labor, and aesthetics.