Born in Argentan in 1881, Léger began his career as an artist by serving an apprenticeship in architecture in Caen and then working as an architectural draughtsman. In 1900 he travelled to Paris and was admitted to the École des Arts Décoratifs, also attending the Académie Julian. The first profound influence on Léger’s work came from Cézanne and from 1909 Léger developed a Cubist style.

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As a painter Fernand Léger exerted an enormous influence on the development of Cubism, Constructivism and the modern advertising poster as well as various forms of applied art. He also taught at Yale University and at Mills College in California from 1940 until 1945. Léger died near Paris in 1955.