Still life 1927

Fernand Léger made this painting, Still Life, with oil paint, probably in his studio in Paris. Look how the composition comes together with blocks of color: brick red, black, yellow, and white. Léger was interested in machinery, and you see the influence of the mechanical in the painting's shapes and forms. I can imagine Léger carefully building up the painting’s surface, balancing the cool whites with warmer reds and yellows. His surface looks smooth, like enamel; the paint has been applied thinly. Léger worked in a representational mode early in his career but then developed a Cubist-inspired style around 1909. He, along with other painters, constructed a modern language for a new world of increasingly mechanized production. Léger’s paintings are optimistic and forward-looking. He’s always in dialogue with the world around him, celebrating modern life through his painting. His style inspired many artists, and his work continues to be influential today.