Architecture in Art - Fernand Léger

mruzzier
May 3, 2022
2 min read

Updated: Jun 20, 2022

While in Marseille, Fernand Léger was awaiting passage to America. It was 1940 and something inspired him to paint “The Divers, Blue and Black”. Was the inspiration literal? Was he poolside or was he witness to people enjoying the clear Mediterranean water on a splendid summer afternoon at La Corniche? Could it have been metaphorical for the plunge he took by leaving France? Perhaps it was in California where he sought refuge from the war that it all gelled. Léger painted a total of 25 works using this vocabulary.

During WW1 Léger was a military engineer and became fascinated with machinery and their movement as evidenced in the works of that time as well as the film “Ballet Mechanique“ that he produced. Movement is clearly evident in this painting and became a key aspect of Léger’s work.

It is perhaps no coincidence that I’m drawn to the architecture within this particular painting given that Léger himself apprenticed with an architect for a few years. He maintained a lasting interest in architecture and even collaborated with his friend Le Corbusier. The topic and therefore the application of polychromatic themes to both architecture and painting was something that played off the two of them. Le Corbusier’s ‘Cite Radieuse’ is a great result of this philosophy. Léger believed that the walls came alive by adding color to them or even disappeared if they were painted yellow. He also believed that color gave the architecture movement.

I enjoy this painting every time I visit The Met. In fact, it is this painting that triggered my quest to explore the possibilities of architecture within paintings. The manner in which the divers seem to play with the shapes is reminiscent of the countless hours spent playing with my polychromatic LEGO blocks as a child.

You will note that the divers are an overlay. They are such an integral part of this composition yet they neither dominate nor detract from the shapes and their vibrant colors. When I made that observation, I took it for a lesson in editing and keep it in mind in my everyday work. Knowing when to add or remove a component is critical to whether or not the work is successful.