Le Corbusier (b.1887, Switzerland – d.1965, France), born Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, was a pioneering 20th-century architect and artist known for fusing functionality with beauty in modern architecture. As of 1917, Le Corbusier lived and worked mainly in Paris, though his practice remained international throughout his career. He entered the world of painting after meeting artist Amédée Ozenfant. Together, they founded the Purist movement in 1918, which focused on still life: everyday objects rendered as geometric forms and flat planes of color. Le Corbusier considered painting a vital component of his aesthetic philosophy, writing, “I think that if any meaning is attributed to my work as an architect, it is to this secret labor that one must attribute its deeper value.” Rejecting ornate styles like Art Nouveau, in his 1923 book Vers une architecture, he described houses as "machines for living in," advocating for utility, clarity, and harmony. He articulated his design philosophy—centered on volume, surface, and plan—through writings and his “five points of architecture,” exemplified in projects like Villa Savoye outside Paris and the Unité d’habitation in Marseille. Le Corbusier’s legacy lies in his belief that architecture shapes human experience through form and emotion.
