The Bicyclists

1951

Not on view

Straddling a bicycle, a sturdy woman stands still. One foot rests on the right pedal, the other on the ground. On the bicycle’s back sits her child, a young boy. Their colorful leotards identify the pair as circus performers. Beginning in the late 1930s, Léger’s paintings became animated by merry workers and construction crews as well as sportsmen: acrobats, swimmers, gymnasts, and bicyclists. Here, he reprised the motif— mother and child with bicycle—from the right-hand side of his earlier large horizontal painting Leisure Time: Homage to Louis David (1948–49; Musée d’Art Moderne Paris).

Artwork Details

Title: The Bicyclists
Artist: Fernand Léger (French, Argentan 1881–1955 Gif-sur-Yvette)
Date: 1951
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 51 1/2 × 38 1/2 in. (130.8 × 97.8 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: The Mr. and Mrs. Klaus G. Perls Collection, 1997
Object Number: 1997.149.11
Rights and Reproduction: © 2026 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

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Portrait of Gerard de Lairesse, Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn) Dutch, Oil on canvas — Portrait of Gerard de Lairesse
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1665–67

Houses under the Trees, Fernand Léger French, Oil on canvas — Houses under the Trees
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Glass Horn, Glass, French — Glass Horn
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