Fernand Léger

Intensely involved in the development of Cubist style in Paris, Fernand Léger developed a machine-inspired version that conveyed power through the use of mechanical and architectural components. His trademark vocabulary included the use of crisp outlines, bright colors, and densely packed tubular forms. In the 1920s, he often applied his machine esthetic to still-life subjects. In Flowers, overlapping planes and flattened shapes press the composition’s elements against the painting surface to lock them into place in a static yet energetic grid. The curve of the vase and irregularity of the flowers’ sinuous stems suggest a poetic abstraction of nature amid alternating linear patterns and hard-edged blocks of color.