Portrait of Fernand Léger

Fernand Léger

French painter, 1881–1955

Joseph Fernand Henri Léger was a French painter, sculptor, and filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism which he gradually modified into a more figurative, populist style. His boldly simplified treatment of modern subject matter has caused him to be regarded as a forerunner of pop art.
Walk the 3D gallery · 10 works →See on the timeline
Nudes in the forest, painting by the artist

Nudes in the forest

1910120 × 170 cmKröller-Müller Museum
The Wedding, painting by the artist

The Wedding

1910257 × 206 cmMusée National d'Art Moderne
Les Fumeurs, painting by the artist

Les Fumeurs

1911129 × 96 cmSolomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Smoke Over Rooftops, painting by the artist

Smoke Over Rooftops

1911Minneapolis Institute of Art
The Alarm Clock, painting by the artist

The Alarm Clock

1914100 × 81 cmMusée National d'Art Moderne
The Pink Tug, painting by the artist

The Pink Tug

191866 × 92 cmMuseum Ludwig
The City, painting by the artist

The City

1919231 × 298 cmPhiladelphia Museum of Art

The City is an oil on canvas painting by French painter and sculptor Fernand Léger, from 1919.

The Tug, painting by the artist

The Tug

1920114 × 145 cmMuseum of Grenoble

The Tugboat is an oil on canvas painting by French painter Fernand Léger, from 1920. It is held at the Museum of Grenoble, which purchased it from the artist, in 1928.

Léger was impressed by the universal exhibitions of the early 20th century. Like Marcel Duchamp, he was inspired by the machines that he saw at the fourth exhibition of aerial locomotion, which took place in Paris just before the First World War. History and description →

Man and Woman, painting by the artist

Man and Woman

1921Q1117704

Man and Woman is an oil-on-canvas painting executed in 1921 by the French artist Fernand Léger. The painting is a cubist portrait of a man and a woman locked in a passionate embrace at odds with their depersonalized, industrialized setting. The painting is held by the Indianapolis Museum of Art, United States.

Léger rejected many aspects of cubism, such as multiple simultaneous vantage points, but retained the trait of reducing figures to their most basic, geometric components. To that end, the woman in this painting consists of curves and the color orange, while the man is depicted in columns and blue. Description →

Léger's battlefront experiences during World War I instilled in him the conviction that art should reflect the new, mechanized world, and be accessible to the average person. He identified strongly with the working class. Historical information →

Man and Woman was acquired by the IMA in 1952, courtesy of the Martha Delzell Memorial Fund. It has the acquisition number 52.28. Acquisition →

Still Life with Candlestick, painting by the artist

Still Life with Candlestick

1922116 × 80 cmMusée d'art moderne de Paris

Still Life with Candlestick is an oil on canvas painting created in 1922 by the French artist Fernand Léger.

Text: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Images: Wikimedia Commons, public domain · Part of The Museum at THEODORA