Three characters 1920

Fernand Léger made this painting, Three Characters, with oil on canvas, and it’s like looking at a machine-age dream. Léger’s approach is so architectural, laying down blocks of color, like a builder. He’s not hiding the process; you can see how the forms slot together, simple as that. The palette is industrial, with greys and blacks, but there are also splashes of yellow, purple, and red that jolt you. The paint looks thin, almost scrubbed in, giving a flat surface, and this adds to the feeling that this is a world made of shapes and surfaces. Look at the seated figure with his newspaper – each element is clearly defined. It’s all planes and cylinders. The way he handles figures reminds me a bit of Picasso, but Léger is less about deconstruction and more about rebuilding the world as a series of forms. Ultimately, Léger offers us a world where humans and machines coexist, or perhaps, become one and the same. It's up to us to decide.