Soldier with a pipe 1916

Fernand Léger made this painting of a soldier with a pipe with oil on canvas. There’s a monochromatic colour palette of grey, black, white and a little red, with tubular forms that compose a figure. It makes me think about the artist’s process. I can imagine Léger in his studio, shifting and emerging through trial, error, and intuition. It’s as if Léger is trying to find the right way to represent the soldier, experimenting with different arrangements of shapes and colours. He uses thick paint, creating texture and depth on the surface, giving the sense of the soldier’s presence in the space. The cylindrical shapes create a sense of volume, and I can imagine what it might have been like to create such a solid, stable form from a subject like a soldier. Léger’s exploration of abstraction and representation resonates with the works of his peers. These artists inspire each other, even across time. As viewers, we are invited to engage with this artwork, embracing its ambiguities and uncertainties, open to multiple interpretations.