Artwork Page for The Aviator

Details / Information for The Aviator

The Aviator

1920

Fernand Léger

(French, 1881–1955)
Culture
France, 20th century
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
Framed: 80.1 x 106.7 x 4.6 cm (31 9/16 x 42 x 1 13/16 in.); Unframed: 65 x 92 cm (25 9/16 x 36 1/4 in.); Former: 90.5 x 117.2 x 7 cm (35 5/8 x 46 1/8 x 2 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 1981.16
Copyright
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
This artwork is known to be under copyright.
Location
223 20th Century Avant-Garde
Print
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Did You Know?

Trained as an architect to admire pure, geometric forms, Léger wrote that while fighting on the Argonne Front during World War I he was "stunned by the sight of the breech of a 75 millimeter in the sunlight. It was the magic of light on the white metal."

Description

During World War I, Fernand Léger served in the Corps of Engineers until he sustained injuries from a mustard gas attack at the Battle of Verdun in 1916. This painting celebrates the courage of aviators and the technology of flight; the spinning propeller is suggested by the arching curves fragmented into sections of purple, white, black, green, and yellow. The circular motif is repeated as a human head, the insignia of the French air force (that resembles a bullseye), and tubular mechanical elements throughout the composition.
A colorful and somewhat abstract horizontally oriented oil painting composed of geometric shapes features a central cluster of blocks of color and a figure.

The Aviator

1920

Fernand Léger

(French, 1881–1955)
France, 20th century

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