Artwork
La Mère et l'Enfant (Chien sous la table)
La Mère et l'Enfant (Chien sous la table) is an oil painting by the Cubism Synthetic artist Fernand Léger. It dates from 1920 and is held in the collection of the Kunsthaus Zürich.
About this work
Overview
Created in 1920, Fernand Léger’s oil painting La Mère et l'Enfant (Chien sous la table) presents a mother and child seated at a table. The work is part of the collection of the Kunsthaus Zürich and exemplifies Léger’s post‑World War I interest in simplifying forms into bold, graphic elements.
Subject & Meaning
The scene shows a woman in a vivid red dress offering a white plate to a child in a gray shirt, who reaches toward an array of abstract objects on the tabletop. The inclusion of a dog beneath the table, hinted by the title, adds a domestic touch, while the stylized objects function more as symbolic cues than realistic details.
Technique & Style
Léger employs flat planes of saturated colour, reds, yellows, blacks, against a white background, arranging them in geometric blocks and stripes that flatten spatial depth. The composition relies on simplified, almost mechanical shapes, reflecting the artist’s embrace of modern industrial aesthetics.
History & Provenance
After its completion in 1920, the painting entered the holdings of the Kunsthaus Zürich, where it remains on display. Its acquisition reflects the museum’s early 20th‑century focus on avant‑garde French art.
Context
The work belongs to Léger’s “machine aesthetic” period, during which he merged figurative subjects with the visual language of machinery and advertising. The juxtaposition of domestic figures with abstracted, emblematic objects illustrates his attempt to reconcile everyday life with the era’s technological visual culture.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Joseph Fernand Henri Léger was a French painter, sculptor, and filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism which he gradually modified into a more figurative, populist style. His boldly simplified…
