AB-MP3-1959-004 — Roussillon Earth (c. 1959)

Technical information

Title: Roussillon Earth
Date: c. 1959
Technique: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 33 × 41 cm
Location: Private collection *

Biographical / historical context

In 1959, Breuillaud explores two lines of research simultaneously: on the one hand, micro-organic structures announcing the filamentary (MP3); on the other, a set of compositions inspired by southern soils, in which the artist transposes his sensory impressions of the South into abstract chromatic architectures.

Roussillon Earth clearly belongs to this second family: it translates a geological, mineral memory—no longer by mimetic reference, but by an inner interpretation of colours, reliefs and strata. The series marks an important step in the transition toward MP3, as it already combines fragmentation into coloured cells with a broader spatial logic.

Formal / stylistic description

The composition is organised as a complex aggregate of irregular shapes, like coloured tectonic plates caught within a vibrating matrix. Warm tones dominate—ochres, reds, mineral pinks, earthy greens—contrasting with a saturated blue ground that evokes both depth and distance.

The coloured cells are bounded by softened yet distinct contours, forming an articulated whole in which each zone seems to correspond to a fragment of rock, dust, vegetation or clay. Texture is rich: paint is laid in small, thick touches, reinforcing the impression of a richly striated, worked soil.

Darker, more compact areas function as mineral “pockets,” while lighter forms resemble surface layers. This quasi-geological structuring fully places the work within the MP3 aesthetic while maintaining a sensitive, territorial relationship to matter.

Comparative analysis / related works

This painting dialogues with other 1959 works in which Breuillaud develops mental cartographies or terrestrial structures (notably certain oils close to the MP3 compositions), but with a warmer and more stratified density here.

Compared with the contemporaneous pastels (AB-MP3-1959-002, 003), it stands out through a heavier materiality and an anchoring in terrestrial depth, less aerial.

It also relates to the future works of 1960–1961, in which the artist amplifies the logic of mineral cells into energetic nuclei; however, Roussillon Earth remains more horizontal, more grounded in a vision of landscape.

Justification of dating and attribution

The dating “c. 1959” is based on: the warm, mineral palette coherent with works linked to the South at the end of the 1950s; the fragmentation into coloured cells typical of the MP2 → MP3 shift; the presence of a saturated blue ground characteristic of oils from this year; the CSV note (“terrestrial structure, mineral colours”) fully compatible with the analysis; and the red signature at lower left, in a handwriting frequently seen in the late 1950s.