Le Corbusier (Charles Edouard Jeanneret-Gris)
Swiss, 1887­1965
Chaise longue
c. 1933 (designed 1928)
Chrome-plated steel and iron, pony skin
54.6 x 157.5 x 59.1 cm
Bequest of Hedwig B. Schniewind, 1963.1128

Le Corbusier was primarily an architect, but he also liked to design the furniture that went inside his houses, which he called “machines for living.” He used industrial materials like stainless steel to create a modern look.

The French chaise longue (“long chair,” or chair for lounging) was introduced in the mid-eighteenth century as a fashionable daybed, but le Corbusier made it into a “resting machine.” You can still buy a chair of this design today. How would it feel to lounge in this chair?