Ink on paper
20 x 15 cm
Donated by Nadia Léger and Georges Bauquier
Musée national Fernand Léger  Inv. 96097

In August 1914, the declaration of war and then the order for general mobilisation took Léger out of his artistic milieu. Posted to Versailles as a sapper in the Engineering troops, he awaited his departure for the front. His drawings capture his last moments of happiness: the memory of Jeanne, his future wife whom he draws face-on, in profile and beside him. With no precise stylistic approach, this rare and touching series of portraits exceptionally lifts the veil on the painter’s sentimental life.