Fernand Léger's 'La grande Julie' Painted at End of US Exile

Fernand Léger painted 'La grande Julie' in 1945, at the conclusion of his exile in the United States. The work exemplifies his concept of the 'figure-objet' (figure-object), where a character—here a tall girl in an orange tunic—carries no more significance than a road sign, an umbrella, or a pile of scrap metal. Léger described the painting as an 'anti-Mona Lisa,' deliberately stripping the human figure of traditional emotional or narrative weight. The painting dates from a pivotal moment just before his return to France after World War II.