“At a glance”
Location: Biot, near Antibes on the Côte d’Azur
Theme: Art museum dedicated to Fernand Léger (1881–1955)
Special feature: Colorful mosaics, cubist paintings, and monumental works
Surroundings: Beautiful park with sculptures and panoramic views
Duration of experience: Approximately 1–1.5 hours
Tip: Combine your visit with a trip to the charming medieval town of Biot
Fernand Léger museum in Biot
Most visitors to the charming little town of Biot should stop by the Fernand Léger museum. Located just a few kilometers from the center, it’s a unique art experience.
The museum is beautifully located, surrounded by a park-like garden, and the magnificent impressions of Léger’s works place this museum on the list of the Riviera’s best art museums.
Who was Fernand Léger?
Fernand Léger (1881-1955) was a major figure in Cubism and was inspired by famous artists such as Picasso and George Braque.
In his early works, he created his own form of cubism, known as turbism.
He grew up in a cattle trading family in Normandy. However, his own life path changed when he was sent to Caen to train as an architect.
After studying architecture and completing his military service in 1903, he, like many other famous French artists, was admitted to the art school “L’ecole des Arts Décoratifs” in Paris.
While studying at art school, he made a living making architectural drawings and retouching photographs.
Fernand Léger was clearly influenced by World War I
Fernand Léger was drafted into the French army in 1914 and spent two years at the front in Argonne. In 1916, he almost died after a German attack with mustard gas.
During his subsequent convalescence in Villepinte in 1917, he painted “The Card Players”, a painting that, with its monstrous robot-like figures, would come to define his future years. The painting was a clear expression of his experiences in the war.
The war would in many ways define his artistic expression for the next ten years and his works from this period are today referred to as his “mechanical works”.
Throughout the 1930s, Léger expressed himself through more organic forms, and in the 1950s he renewed his idiom again by using black outlines together with colored overlapping surfaces.
A famous example of this is “The Grand Parade” from 1954, which is now on display at the Guggenheim Museum of Art in New York.
The exhibition in Fernand Léger Museum
Although Fernand Léger was primarily a painter, he was also active in other art forms. As a filmmaker, he collaborated with Dudley Murphy, George Antheil and Man Ray to create the futuristic film “Ballet Mecanique” from 1924, and in his later years he also worked as a sculptor.
In 1949, he founded a small ceramic workshop in Biot, which has since been transformed into the Fernand Léger Museum we see today. It was his wife Nadia Khodasevich Légerwho was the initiator of the museum.
10 interesting things about Fernand Léger
This video (in French) tells 10 interesting facts that can be valuable information before visiting the Fernand Léger museum.
In 2008, a Léger painting sold for almost 40 million dollars
The fact that Fernand Léger is one of the most sought-after artists in the world today is clearly demonstrated by a sale in the USA in 2008. The painting “Étude por la femme en bleu” was sold at a Sotheby’s auction for a staggering 39,241,000 dollars.
By Tommy Sverre – updated 2025
Open every day except Tuesdays,
from 2 May to 31 October: 10:00 to 18:00
from 1 November to 30 April: from 10:00 to 17:00
Closed January 1, May 1 and December 25.
Ticket sales stop 30 minutes before the museum closes.
