Fernand LÉGER The logs - 1951 Gouache on paper Signed with the initials and dated lower right "F.L.51", titled and annotated on the back "N°G.235 - Les bûches". 49.2 x 64.5 cm Gouache on paper; signed with the initials and dated lower right; titled and annotated on the reverse 19.37 x 25.39 in. Provenance: Galerie Gmurzynska, Cologne Collection Philippe Dennery (acquired from the latter) To the current owner by inheritance In this work entitled Les Bûches (The Logs), painted in 1951, Fernand Léger once again explored the harmony between geometric shapes and bright colours characteristic of his late period. The stylized trunks, schematized by broad black lines, are interwoven in a dynamic composition in which flat areas of colour - yellow, blue, green, pink and ochre - structure the space while injecting it with rhythmic vitality. Far from any naturalistic representation, Léger was interested here in the plastic power of simple objects. The logs become pretexts for a formal interplay between abstraction and figuration, between volume and flatness. This work reflects his taste for the visual architecture of the everyday, transposed into a modern, almost sculptural pictorial language. Signed "F.L. 51", this gouache bears witness to Léger's last creative phase, marked by greater freedom in his treatment of motifs, and a desire to make art accessible, rooted in material reality but elevated by the power of form. Fernand LÉGER