Fernand Léger on contrasts

One day I had painted a bunch of keys on a canvas, my bunch of keys. I didn’t know what to put next to them. I needed something that would be the absolute opposite of a bunch of keys. So when I finished work I went out. I had only walked a few yards when what should I see in a shop window? A postcard of the Mona Lisa! At once I knew that was what I needed; what could have made a greater contrast to the keys? Then I also added a can of sardines.

—Fernand Léger