I n contrast to the rarefied aesthetic of postwar abstraction, Légers still lives from the 1950s were intended to appeal to the public with a more accessible, figurative style and subject matter. Drawing upon his experience in the United States, where he lived as an exile during World War II, Le Chapeau vert et le fer à repasser has more in common conceptually with Pop Art than with Légers earlier Purist output. Highlighting the updated yet accessible post war technology of the electric iron, this household object is at the heart of Léger’s examination of rapidly changing consumer culture.

A still life for the working class, the present work elevates the lowly tools of household staff. The sinuous electric cord appears almost snake like, imbuing a seemingly simple scene with further mystery. Challenging the viewer’s interpretation of their everyday surroundings, Le Chapeau vert et le fer à repasser predates and Warhol’s Soup Can series by more than ten years while confronting the very same questions of contemporary and quotidian objects (see fig. 1).