AB-PR2-1950-020 — Untitled (c. 1950)

Technical information

Title : Untitled
Date : c. 1950
Technique : Oil on canvas
Dimensions : 54 × 65 cm
Location : Private collection

Biographical / historical context

The work belongs to a landscape register in which the motif is retained (village, hills, tree) while being subjected to a structuring geometrisation, without tipping into abstraction.

It forms part of the PR2 dynamic: construction through masses, simplification of volumes, and articulation in successive planes.

Formal / stylistic description

Subject: a landscape with a village in the middle distance, a row of trees in the foreground and relief in the background; no figures. Horizontal format.

Dominant palette: greens (trees, hills), ochres/terracotta (soils), oranges (roofs), violets/greys (relief), dark blue-green (sky).

Contrasts: opposition between the darkened sky and the lighter tones of the village; warm/cool relationships (ochres versus greens/blues).

Construction: organisation into successive bands (foreground soils, band of trees, village, relief); depth is achieved by the interlocking of planes rather than by linear perspective.

Paint handling: covering fields of colour with reworking through brushing; contours are sometimes reinforced with darker values, sharpening the cut-out quality of forms.

Comparative analysis / related works

Through its geometrised planes, simplification of the motif and construction in layers, the painting belongs to the same field of research as other PR2 landscapes, while standing out for its strongly darkened sky which densifies the scene.

Compared to PR2-1950-019 (Landscape at Caromb), it appears more structured, with tree masses more “carved” and a more compact relief; through its synthesis and its contours, it foreshadows compositions in which the organisation by signs becomes more autonomous.

Justification of dating and attribution

Formal indicators suggest a moderate geometrisation (planes, facets, simplification of the motif), still upstream from research more clearly oriented toward a radical transformation of form. Proposed dating: circa 1949–1951 (confidence: medium).

Material indicators (from the images provided): stretcher with a central crossbar; primed/painted reverse; no legible inscription on the photographed reverse.

Dating retained: c. 1950. Attribution: André Breuillaud (signature visible on the recto).

Provenance / exhibitions / publications

Public sale: Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 26 Nov 2025, auctioneer Pescheteau-Badin.