Léger, painter of colour. New tour of the collections

Since the origins of painting, colour has been the prerogative of painters. Both matter and light, it is the starting point for the entire aesthetic approach of Fernand Léger (1881-1955). Throughout his work, the painter showed a real passion for pure colour, which he used in an infinite variety of combinations and variations, on a wide range of media: drawings, ceramics, stained glass, sets for the world of entertainment and architecture.

After his early works, marked by the influence of Impressionism, Léger joined Cubism in the 1910s and distinguished himself from the movement's two pioneers, Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso, by his desire to introduce pure colour into Cubist works, which until then had been dominated by shades of grey, almost monochrome. Léger became close to his friend Robert Delaunay, with whom he waged an active battle to free forms and colours from the illusion of reality: "Before us, green was a tree, blue was the sky, and so on. After us, colour became an object in itself."

Beyond painting, Fernand Léger saw pure colour as a vital, almost therapeutic necessity, which he strove to spread throughout his life in urban landscapes: "My need for colour was immediately supported by the street, by the city. It was in me, this need for colour. There was nothing I could do: as soon as I could place a colour, I placed it. I spent as little time as possible in greyness."

From the 1930s onwards, Léger developed mural art for public spaces, hoping to re-enchant the modern world with monumental compositions in free, powerful colours. Far from being conceptual, Léger's colour is above all a feast for the eye that infuses joy, happiness and optimism into society as a whole.

Curatorship : 
Julie Guttierez, Chief Curator, Fernand Léger national Museum, Biot 

Fernand Léger, Les Four cyclists, 1943 – 1948 (oil on canvas, 129 x 161,50 cm). Photo : © GrandPalaisRmn / Gérard Blot © Adagp, Paris, 2025. 
Fernand Léger, La Fleur qui marche, 1952-1953, enamelled terracotta sculpture, 64 x 59 x 20 cm. Ceramist : Roland Brice. Musée national Fernand Léger, Biot. Photo: RMN-GP / Gérard Blot. Poster design: illustramenti.com © ADAGP, Paris, 2025