Ballet mécanique 1926

Fernand Léger made this untitled painting with oil on canvas, and it’s a reminder that art is about building, about putting things together. Look at how Léger divides the canvas into three distinct panels, each a different pastel shade: green, pink, and blue. These aren't just backgrounds, they’re the stage for a geometric ballet. Notice how each shape, whether it's a circle, line, or curve, is carefully placed, almost like notes in a musical score. The texture isn't trying to hide, it's right there on the surface. The paint isn’t thick, but it's not trying to disappear either; you can see the brushstrokes, the hand of the artist. That big grey circle in the blue panel – it’s like a planet, or maybe a gear in a machine. Léger gives us an abstract language, and it’s up to us to translate. Thinking about the de Stijl movement, you can see those artists using a similar language of abstraction. Art is always a conversation, a call and response across time. What’s being said here? Maybe it’s about finding beauty in the everyday, the mechanical, the modern. What do you think?