The King of cards 1927

Fernand Léger made this painting, The King of Cards, with oil on canvas. It’s full of geometric shapes and objects outlined in black. There’s a deck of cards, a figure, some balls, and waves, maybe seen through a window? I'm imagining Léger in his studio, puzzling over this composition, trying to find a balance between representation and abstraction. He’s pushing forms around, simplifying things, and flattening space. The paint is applied pretty smoothly, almost mechanically, which is something he explored quite a bit. The color palette is quite subdued, mostly browns, blues and white, with the odd flash of yellow, making everything fit together nicely. I guess he wasn’t trying to create an illusion but rather to construct a kind of visual harmony. It reminds me of other cubist painters, like Picasso and Braque, who were also interested in breaking down objects into their essential forms. All these painters were in dialogue with each other, each trying to find their own way of seeing and representing the world. It’s like a conversation that’s been going on for centuries, with each generation building on what came before.