This artwork is no longer available.
Please contact the gallery for more information.

Current Exhibitions

Paintings of Dorothy Hood
March 18 - May 31, 2024
Palm Desert, CA
Sir Winston Churchill: Making Art, Making History
February 20 - May 31, 2024
Virtual
Ansel Adams: Affirmation of Life
December 1, 2023 - June 30, 2024
Palm Desert, CA
Picasso: Beyond the Canvas
October 4, 2023 - April 30, 2024
Palm Desert, CA
No Other Land: A Century of American Landscapes
September 21, 2023 - March 31, 2024
Palm Desert, CA
Art of the American West: A Prominent Collection
August 24, 2023 - May 31, 2024
Palm Desert, CA
Alexander Calder: Shaping a Primary Universe
August 23, 2023 - May 31, 2024
Palm Desert, CA
Andy Warhol: All is Pretty
August 17, 2023 - May 31, 2024
Jackson Hole, WY
Georgia O’Keeffe and Ansel Adams: Modern Art, Modern Friendship
July 13, 2023 - April 30, 2024
Palm Desert, CA
Florals for Spring, Groundbreaking
May 8, 2023 - May 31, 2024
Palm Desert, CA
First Circle: Circles in Art
February 14, 2023 - May 31, 2024
Palm Desert, CA
Your Heart’s Blood: Intersections of Art and Literature
September 12, 2022 - March 31, 2024
Palm Desert, CA
Meeting Life: N.C. Wyeth and the MetLife Murals
July 18, 2022 - March 31, 2024
Palm Desert, CA
Andy Warhol Polaroids: Wicked Wonders
December 13, 2021 - March 31, 2024
Palm Desert, CA

Archived Exhibitions

2024

Discovering Creativity: American Art Masters
January 10 - March 17, 2024
Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens - West Palm Beach, FL

2023

Figurative Masters of the Americas
January 4 - February 12, 2023
Palm Desert, CA

2022

Abstract Expressionism: Transcending the Radical
January 12, 2022 - January 31, 2023
Palm Desert, CA
Georgia O’Keeffe and Marsden Hartley: Modern Minds
February 1, 2022 - February 28, 2023
Palm Desert, CA
My Own Skin: Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera
June 16 - December 31, 2022
Palm Desert, CA
N.C. Wyeth: A Decade of Painting
September 29, 2022 - March 31, 2023
Palm Desert, CA

2021

It Was Acceptable in the 80s
April 27, 2021 - August 31, 2023
Palm Desert, CA
Elaine and Willem de Kooning: Painting in the Light
August 3, 2021 - January 31, 2022
Palm Desert, CA
James Rosenquist: Potent Pop
June 7, 2021 - January 31, 2023
Palm Desert, CA

2019

Paul Jenkins: Coloring the Phenomenal
December 27, 2019 - March 31, 2023
Palm Desert, CA

2018

N.C. Wyeth: Paintings and Illustrations
February 1 - May 31, 2018
Palm Desert, CA
The Paintings of Sir Winston Churchill
March 21 - May 30, 2018
Palm Desert, CA
The Paintings of Sir Winston Churchill
June 1 - July 27, 2018
San Francisco, CA
The Paintings of Sir Winston Churchill
August 1 - September 16, 2018
Jackson Hole, WY
de Kooning x de Kooning
November 8, 2018 - February 28, 2019
New York, NY
“Above all, it is a matter of loving art, not understanding it.” – Fernand Léger

History

When Robert Hughes described the rapid decline of early twentieth century Cubism, he was quick to characterize Léger’s work as a “sustained confession of modernist hope that one cannot imagine Braque doing, that he could make images of the machine age that could cut across barriers of class and education — a didactic art for the man in the street, not highly refined, but clear, definite, pragmatic, and rooted in everyday experience.”  (Hughes, Robert, Shock of the New, Alfred A. Knopf Inc., 1980, p. 34)

Indeed, Léger made a life-long commitment to depict the common man and to create for him accessible art not limited to the world of fine art connoisseurship. During the 1940s and ‘50s, the automata persona and modeling of his early figures of tubes, barrels and linkages gave way to freely arranged bands of color juxtaposed with flattened forms of figures and objects outlined in black. The style, unabashedly simple and full of brightly lit positivism, resonated with American sensibilities and artists such as Stuart Davis and Keith Haring. The work was jazzy, fun, and readily consumed by the public. Léger credited the neon lights of New York City as the source of the innovation: “I was struck by the neon advertisements flashing all over Broadway. You are there, you talk to someone, and all of a sudden he turns blue. Then the color fades—another one comes and turns him red or yellow.” (Buck, Robert T., Fernand Léger: An Exhibition, Abbeville Press 1982, p. 52)

More
  • Leger11102_history1
    Fernand Léger 1954, The National Portrait Gallery, London Photo: Ida Kar
  • Leger11102_history2
    Fernand Léger as he poses in front of his work, New York, 7 October 1941 Photo: Arnold Newman/Getty Images
  • Leger11102_history3
    Fernand Léger, La gande parade (état définitif) (The Great Parade) 1954 The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
  • Leger11102_history4
    Étude pour la Grande Parade, 1952, Gouache and ink on paper, 12 1/2 × 17 in
“Man needs colour to live; it’s just as necessary an element as fire and water.” – Fernand Léger

Market Insights

  • Leger AMR Graph
  • Léger was a central figure of the Cubist movement whose artistic influence is rivaled by few others. 
  • The graph by Art Market Research shows that since 1976, works by Léger have increased at a 6% annual rate of return.
  • Paintings by Léger have sold for up to $70 million at auction. The record price for a work on paper is $4.7 million, set by another study for a major series.
  • Currently, Léger works on paper present an opportunity to acquire a museum-quality Léger under $5 million USD. There is an enormous disparity between the prices paid for Léger oils on canvas and the works on paper, a prudent area of acquisition ahead of the market direction. 

Top Paintings Sold at Auction

"Contraste de formes" (1913), oil on burlap, 36 ½ x 29 in. Sold at Christie’s New York: 13 November 2017 for $70,062,500 USD
“Contraste de formes” (1913), oil on burlap, 36 ½ x 29 in. Sold at Christie’s New York: 13 November 2017 for $70,062,500 USD
"La femme en bleu (study)" (1913), oil on canvas, 51 ¼ x 38 ¼ in. Sold at Sotheby’s New York: 07 May 2008 for $39,241,000 USD
“La femme en bleu (study)” (1913), oil on canvas, 51 ¼ x 38 ¼ in. Sold at Sotheby’s New York: 07 May 2008 for $39,241,000 USD
"La femme en rouge et vert" (1914), oil on canvas, 39 ¾ x 31 ¾ in. Sold at Christie’s New York: 04 November 2003 for $22,407,500 USD
“La femme en rouge et vert” (1914), oil on canvas, 39 ¾ x 31 ¾ in. Sold at Christie’s New York: 04 November 2003 for $22,407,500 USD

Top Works on Paper Sold at Auction

"Dessin pour contraste de formes, composition II" (1913), gouache on paper, 24 ½ x 18 ½ in. Sold at Christie’s New York: 06 November 2007 for $4,745,000 USD
“Dessin pour contraste de formes, composition II” (1913), gouache on paper, 24 ½ x 18 ½ in. Sold at Christie’s New York: 06 November 2007 for $4,745,000 USD
"Contraste de forms" (1913), gouache and brush and ink on paper, 20 1/8 x 25 ¾ in. Sold at Sotheby’s London: 05 February 05 2014 for $3,422,000 USD
“Contraste de forms” (1913), gouache and brush and ink on paper, 20 1/8 x 25 ¾ in. Sold at Sotheby’s London: 05 February 05 2014 for $3,422,000 USD
"Dessin pour contraste de forms No. 2" (1914), gouache and brush and ink on paper,19 ¼ x 25 ¼ in. Sold at Sotheby’s New York: 14 May 2018 for $3,422,000 USD
“Dessin pour contraste de forms No. 2” (1914), gouache and brush and ink on paper,19 ¼ x 25 ¼ in. Sold at Sotheby’s New York: 14 May 2018 for $3,422,000 USD

Paintings in Museum Collections

"La grande parade (état définitif)" (1954), oil on canvas, 9 ft. 9 ¾ inches x 13 ft. 1 ½ inches., The Guggenheim, New York
“La grande parade (état définitif)” (1954), oil on canvas, 9 ft. 9 ¾ inches x 13 ft. 1 ½ inches., The Guggenheim, New York
"Étude pour La grande parade" (1953-1954), oil on canvas, 51 ¼ x 77 in., The Menil Collection, Houston
“Étude pour La grande parade” (1953-1954), oil on canvas, 51 ¼ x 77 in., The Menil Collection, Houston
"L'Acrobate et sa partenaire" (1948), oil on canvas, 51 ¼ x 64 in., The Tate, London
“L’Acrobate et sa partenaire” (1948), oil on canvas, 51 ¼ x 64 in., The Tate, London
"The Constructors" (1951), gouache and crayon on paper, 11 ¾ x 17 in., The Museum of Modern Art, New York
“The Constructors” (1951), gouache and crayon on paper, 11 ¾ x 17 in., The Museum of Modern Art, New York
“If pictorial expression has changed, it is because modern life has necessitated it.” – Fernand Léger

Image Gallery

Inquire

Inquire - Art Single

Similar Works