45.7 × 78.1 cm
(18 × 30 ¾ inches)
Signed and dated lower right
No. 439
Leda is one of Armstrong's most remarkable inventions, bringing classical mythology and contemporary urban life together with complete assurance. The union of Leda and Zeus, disguised as a swan, appears on a brilliantly illuminated billboard above a wet modern street. From the eggs produced by that union would come Helen and, in some versions of the myth, Clytemnestra. Helen's story would in turn lead to the Trojan War and the terrible sequence of events that follows it. Another pair of eggs appears in the nest balanced upon the head of the naked modern Leda below. Armstrong thus presents myth not as a single episode, but as the beginning of a chain of consequences extending far into the future.
The modern passers-by hurry beneath their umbrellas, apparently unaware of the story unfolding above them. Armstrong had explained the umbrella in a statement for his 1951 Lefevre Gallery exhibition as symbolising the inadequate beliefs under which mankind attempted to shelter from a gathering storm. The ancient story is therefore played back into the contemporary world: actions and events whose consequences are not yet understood may nevertheless determine what follows. The painting becomes at once a retelling of Greek myth and an image of the precarious modern world.
Yet the painting is far more than an ingenious piece of symbolism. The pale umbrellas, wet street, illuminated brickwork and isolated figure are held together by Armstrong's brilliant orchestration of light. Electric lamps blaze against the night sky while the building at the far right turns abruptly into darkness, transforming an ordinary corner of the modern city into something mysterious and unsettling.
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