Berggruen & Cie., Paris
Galerie Ariel, Paris
Alexander Iolas, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1979

The board is stable and there is no evidence of retouching under ultra-violet light. Apart from some small nicks in the upper left and lower right corners, this work is in very good original condition. Colours: Overall fairly accurate in the printed catalogue illustration, although the background has a slightly more yellow tonality in the original.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

In the late 1930s and early 1940s Léger painted a number of compositions using images of the natural world, such as butterflies, flowers and underwater plants. In Nature morte aux fleurs, images of flowers, leaves and branches are intertwined into a dynamic composition, set against the flat yellow background. The vivid, undulating forms are rendered in primary tones combined with black, colours that, according to Léger, express the reality of the medium of painting. Rather than imitating nature, the artist was 🍸interested in exploring the language of painting in its fullest and purest form, thus reducing his vocabulary to just the elements of colour and form. As a result, Léger's composition defies a sense of gravity and transcends the naturalism of a tradition💃al still-life.

 

Léger himself described the increasing level of abstraction in his painting: 'The realistic value of a work of art is completely independent of any imitative character. This truth should be accepted as dogma and made axiomatic in the general understanding of painting. [...] Pictorial realism is the simultaneous ordering of three great plastic components: Lines, Forms and Colours. [...] the modern concept is not a reaction against the impressionists' idea but is, on the contrary, a further development and expansion of their aims through the use of methods they neglected. [...] Present-day life, more fragmented and faster moving than life in previous eras, has had to accept as its means of expression an art of dynamic divisionism; and the sentimental side, the expression of the subject (in the sense of popular expression), has reached a critical moment. [...] The modern conception is not simply a passing abstraction, valid only for a few initiates; it is the total expression of a new generation whose needs it shares and whose aspirations it answers' (quoted in Dorothy Kosinski (ed.), Fernand Léger, 1911-1924, The Rhythm of Modern Life, 1911-1924, Munich & New York, 1994, pp. 66-67).