Bridge

Bridge is an oil on canvas painting created by Fernand Léger in 1908, a crucial year for the emerging French avant-garde. This early work captures Léger during a period of intense artistic experimentation, where he began to synthesize the expressive color palette inherited from Fauvism with a growing interest in structural form that would soon define his modern style.

Executed during or immediately before the 1908 period when Léger was aligning himself with figures like Robert Delaunay and Henri Le Fauconnier, the work moves decisively away from traditional representation. The subject matter, a bridge, provided Léger with an opportunity to explore architecture and engineering as primary compositional elements. Léger utilized the inherently geometric nature of the structure to emphasize line and volume, focusing on the solidity and weight of the construction rather than atmospheric effects. This treatment of the built environment reflects the artist’s burgeoning interest in industrial aesthetics, which would characterize his mature output as the "Tubist" style developed.

The painting is a significant document of the transition from early post-Impressionist influences toward the analytical approach of modernism. Léger’s focus on rigid form and defined contours anticipates his later fascination with dynamism and the machine age.

This important canvas is held in the renowned collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, where it contributes to the institution’s comprehensive holdings of early modern European painting. Although this specific work remains protected, many associated studies and earlier works by the French master are part of the public domain, making high-quality prints and references widely available for academic study.