In this exhibition, the Musée national Fernand Léger continued its exploration of the friendships and artistic relationships of the painter Fernand Léger (1881‒1955) with other artists of his time.
By setting artworks from the museum’s collection in counterpoint with a selection of works by major painters and sculptors of the European avant-garde, the exhibition showed how Léger and his fellow-artists influenced each other in the context of the artistic ferment of the early 20th century.
The meaning of the term ’friend’ was broadened to include Fernand Léger’s artistic legacy: his art became a rich source of inspiration for major artists of the second half of the 20th century such as Roy Lichtenstein and Francis Bacon. Although they belonged to later generations, these artists had a strong intellectual and aesthetic connection with their illustrious predecessor.
In addition to the Francis Bacon MB Art Foundation, which lent Bacon’s first known work, entitled ‘Watercolour’ (1929), and a rug which is one of the rare surviving items designed by the artist during his short career as an interior decorator and furniture designer at the beginning of the 1930s, the Musée national d’art moderne-Centre Pompidou (Paris), the Villa Arson (Nice), the Fondation Maeght (Saint-Paul-de-Vence) and the Fondation Louis Vuitton (Paris) were associated with the exhibition.
