Composition murale sur fond jaune 1953

Fernand Léger made this painting with oil on canvas, using bold black outlines to define areas of primary color, laid down in flat planes. It’s kind of fascinating to imagine Léger making this! He's got a vision, right? Laying down these solid colors, building up this almost architectural structure, color by color. The yellow form at the top seems to defy gravity. What did it feel like for him to will that into being? It's like he’s constructing a world with just a few, very loud, building blocks. You can see how Léger’s work influenced Pop Art later on, but he’s also so connected to the earlier Cubists. All of these artists are in conversation, across time, riffing off each other, and making something new. This painting is not just a composition, but an embodied expression of an artist's journey.