The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 14, 2025

A colorful oil painting composed of geometric shapes. There is a central cluster of blocks of color with a figure.

The Aviator

1920

Fernand Léger

(French, 1881–1955)
France, 20th century
oil on canvas
Framed: 80.1 x 106.7 x 4.6 cm (31 9/16 x 42 x 1 13/16 in.); Unframed: 65 x 92 cm (25 9/16 x 36 1/4 in.); Former: 90.5 x 117.2 x 7 cm (35 5/8 x 46 1/8 x 2 3/4 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 1981.16
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Location: 223 20th Century Avant-Garde

Did You Know?

Trained as an architect to admire pure, geometric forms, Léger wrote that while fighting on the Argonne Front during World War I he was "stunned by the sight of the breech of a 75 millimeter in the sunlight. It was the magic of light on the white metal."

Description

During World War I, Fernand Léger served in the Corps of Engineers until he sustained injuries from a mustard gas attack at the Battle of Verdun in 1916. This painting celebrates the courage of aviators and the technology of flight; the spinning propeller is suggested by the arching curves fragmented into sections of purple, white, black, green, and yellow. The circular motif is repeated as a human head, the insignia of the French air force (that resembles a bullseye), and tubular mechanical elements throughout the composition.
  • (D. H. Kahnweiler, Paris, France)
    (Alfred Flechtheim, Berlin,Germany)
    Kofler-Herni Coll.
    (Galerie Beyeler, Basel Switzerland)
    1981
    (Perls Galleries, New York, NY, 1981, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1981-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, “Major Leger Painting Acquired by the Cleveland Museum of Art,” March 31, 1981, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
    Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1981.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 69, no. 2 (1982): 39–82. Reproduced: P. 42 www.jstor.org
    Henning, Edward B. “The Aviator: A Major Painting by Fernand Léger.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 69, no. 3 (1982): 87–93. Reproduced: cover, P. 92, fig. 12; Mentioned: P. 87-93 www.jstor.org
    Blass, Brigit. Aviatik und Avantgarde: Fliegen und Schweben. Köln, Germany: Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Presse & Information, 1988. Reproduced: p. 27
    Fernand Léger Retrospective. New York, New York: Helly Nahmad Gallery, 2005. Reproduced and mentioned: p. 38-39, no. 5
    Sims, Lowery S. The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content, and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2006. Reproduced: p. 17, fig. 1
  • Monet to Dalí: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 21, 2007-January 13, 2008).
    Fernand Léger Retrospective. Helly Nahmad Gallery, New York, NY (organizer) (February 22-May 28, 2005).
    Fernand Léger Retrospective. Helly Nahmad Gallery, New York, NY (February 22-May 28, 2005).
    The Year in Review for 1981. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 17-March 21, 1982).
  • {{cite web|title=The Aviator|url=false|author=Fernand Léger|year=1920|access-date=14 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1981.16