Deux bouteilles jaunes sur un fond rouge

Details

Fernand Léger (1880-1955)
Deux bouteilles jaunes sur un fond rouge
signed and dated 'F. Léger 50' (lower right); signed, dated and inscribed '2 bouteilles jaunes sur un fond rouge F. Leger 50' (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
25 5/8 x 20 7/8 in. (65 x 53 cm.)
Painted in 1950

Provenance

Marlborough Fine Art, London (no. 4255).
Dr Sherman Kay.
Waddington Galleries, London (no. BWB 1070).
John McConnell, London.
Anon. sale, Champin, Lombrail, Gautier & Enghien, Paris, 21 June 1989, lot 20.
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Sale room notice

This work has been requested for a forthcoming Fernand Léger exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, Salzburg from 20 July to 20 October 2002.

Lot Essay

Writing in 1950, the year he executed Deux bouteilles jaunes sur un fond rouge, Leger commented: 'The plastic life, the picture, is made up of harmonious relationships among volumes, lines, and colours. These are the three forces that must govern works of art. If, in organizing these three essential elements harmoniously, one finds that objects, elements of reality, can enter into the composition, it may be better and give the work more richness. But they must be subordinated to the three essential elements mentioned above' (quoted in exh. cat. Fernand Léger, New York, 1998, p. 247).

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