AB-PG2-1952-002 — Portrait of a Man in a Blue Suit (1952)

Technical information

Title: Portrait of a Man in a Blue Suit
Date: 1952
Technique: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 65 × 54 cm
Location: Private collection

Biographical / historical context

This work belongs to a moment when Breuillaud embraces a modernist language: construction by planes rather than classical modelling; warm–cool contrasts (rosy flesh against deep blues, acid greens, mauves); an active, non-decorative background that becomes a pictorial framework—almost a “counter-portrait” revealing an inner state more than a real place; and a legible handling of paint (brushwork, superimpositions) that remains controlled, aiming for structured clarity rather than spectacular impasto.

Dated 1952, the portrait is part of the post-war return to the figure while retaining modern achievements (flatness, fragmentation, the autonomy of colour). In Breuillaud’s case, that tension becomes a principle: identity is no longer only a likeness, but a structure—an equilibrium between colour forces.

The re-use of the canvas (verso noted “Man with Beret”) is a valuable studio clue, suggesting a working practice in which supports circulate and one image may cover another—materially, and symbolically, one portrait containing a second, earlier one like a memory in the fabric.

Formal / stylistic description

The painting presents a half-length portrait, frontal yet subtly animated by the turn of the gaze and a discreet asymmetry of the shoulders. The sitter, wearing a blue suit and a dark tie, stands out against a compartmentalised background: areas of green, turquoise, mauve and ochre assemble into an architecture of planes and arcs, like a recomposed landscape or mental structure. The face is treated in geometricised volumes—angled forehead, cheekbones set in flat shapes, cool shadows and warm highlights. The blue eyes, intensely fixed, provide the psychological tension of the whole; they act as an anchor point in a composition driven by construction.

Comparative analysis / related works

Without tying it to a specific work (in the absence of comparative material here), this portrait can be situated as more “architectured” than naturalistic or post-Impressionist portraits, less abstract than non-figurative compositions, and typical of a synthesis: modernity of background and cut, with a maintained, readable human presence.

Justification of dating and attribution

Attribution: certain (signature).

Dating: certain (date “52”, consistent with the pictorial vocabulary).

Support: canvas on stretcher; re-used support.

Verso: presence of an earlier work noted as “Man with Beret” (earlier image on the same support).

Provenance / exhibitions / publications

Public sale: Paris, Blanchet, 11 October 2010 (sale catalogue).

Then: private collection.