Rural Landscape

Technical information

Title : Rural Landscape
Date : c. 1942
Technique : Oil on canvas
Dimensions : 65 × 54 cm
Location : Private collection*

Biographical / historical context

Around 1942, Breuillaud readily returned to rural scenes in which everyday life—paths, crops, carts, figures at work—became a subject in itself. In a troubled context, these agrarian motifs also offered a form of refuge, anchoring the image in a continuity of gestures and seasons.

The painting presents the countryside as the stage for modest sociability. The presence of figures, far from anecdotal, introduces a human scale that measures the breadth of the field and the depth of the sky.

Formal / stylistic description

A light-coloured path crosses the landscape diagonally and recedes between two bands of wheat, punctuated by red and blue touches suggesting poppies and wayside flowers. In the distance, a small group accompanies a cart; the scene is framed by tall trees whose dark mass balances the openness of the sky.

The structure rests on planes and nervous touches: the grasses are rendered in vertical striations, while the sky unfolds in broad grey and bluish passages. The colours are deliberately simplified, yet enlivened by vivid accents that punctuate the foreground.

Comparative analysis / related works

This work belongs to Breuillaud’s corpus of “paths” and “fields”, where the diagonal acts as a guiding thread and organises depth. One finds his way of condensing the motif into chromatic masses—a large tree, a band of wheat, an opening of path—rather than a detailed description of the terrain.

Compared with landscapes without figures, the introduction of the cart and silhouettes adds a discreet narrative rhythm. The scene reads as a progression through space, close to compositions in which the artist juxtaposes nature and human presence to heighten the sense of journey.

Justification of dating and attribution

The dating around 1942 is consistent with the synthetic handling and a palette dominated by greens and ochres, heightened with red accents. The treatment of the field in striations and the sky in broad passages corresponds to a practice seeking atmospheric effect without an overload of detail.

The attribution to André Breuillaud rests on the diagonal construction, the simplification of forms into coloured volumes, and the quality of line that describes trunks and figures with a few firm strokes—characteristic of his manner in open-air scenes.

Provenance / exhibitions / publications

Private collection.