Fernand Léger – The artist of the future

The French artist Fernand Léger (1881–1955) is a pioneer of today's visual world: clean shapes, vibrant colors. Léger views modern life as a spectacle, "celebrating" the hectic pace and mechanical beauty of modernity in his art. One hundred years after his creative peak, the first feature-length ARTE documentary about this artist—produced on the occasion of an art exhibition curated by the Centre Pompidou and the H’ART Museum in Amsterdam for 2028—poses the question: Was Fernand Léger a contemporary in the wrong century? Or is Léger the first contemporary artist? After all, his radical approach to form, color, and composition established principles that are now ubiquitous in many areas of modern art and visual design. He did not simply copy the basic ideas of the dominant Cubism movement, but guided them in a new direction through his "Tubism." Who was this man, and what drove his painting? And what exactly inspires young artists, graphic designers, street artists, and digital artists of the 21st century about his visual ideas? The documentary aims to get close to Fernand Léger as a person and a painter along with his groundbreaking art, to experience him anew, and to highlight the relevance of this French artist of the century for today's creators—through their work, but above all, through his paintings, creations, and life. The "Musée National Fernand Léger" in Biot and his final years in the South of France play a special role. Exhibitions are held here regularly, in which contemporary artists directly reference Léger's work.

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