Born Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, visionary architect and designer Le Corbusier developed new models for post-industrial urban living. He based his design philosophy on systems of proportion, modularity, and geometry; these principles infiltrated his writing, theory, and painting, as well as urban planning. Though Le Corbusier took inspiration from historical architects such as Vitruvius, Leonardo da Vinci, and Leon Battista Alberti—polymaths who similarly explored the relationship between the body and the built environment—his designs were decidedly modern and unembellished. His buildings have been erected in France, India, Japan, and beyond. As a painter, Le Corbusier co-founded the early 20th-century Purist movement, which dictated that objects should be depicted in their most pared-back forms. He later embraced a more abstract sensibility centered on lines, shadows, and curvilinear shapes. At auction, Le Corbusier’s work has sold for millions.