AB-63B-1963-005 — The Eye of the Centre (1963)

Technical information

Title: The Eye of the Centre
Date: 1963
Technique: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 130 × 195 cm
Location: Private collection

Biographical / historical context

At the heart of 1963, Breuillaud pushes the exploration of segment 63B toward the ambition of a vast system: the red matrix is no longer only the site of a confrontation of forms, but the medium of a network in which each entity seems connected to a central organisation.

Through its very large format, The Eye of the Centre asserts this aim: painting becomes an organic, almost cosmological cartography, where the notion of “eye” designates less a figurative motif than a principle of generation and internal surveillance.

The work thus stands as a hinge piece, between the dramaturgy of origin scenes and the construction of more extended networks.

Formal / stylistic description

The canvas is dominated by an incandescent red, modulated in variations of orange, purple and dark earth, which acts as a continuous medium rather than a simple ground.

Across this field, a mesh of green-gold and yellow filaments unfolds, linking chambers, pockets and scattered micro-entities: dark points, rounded nodules, tubular or droplet shapes that seem to be born, migrate or fix themselves.

Toward the top, slightly off-centre, a thicker oval form stands out like a mask or embryonic eye; around it the lines densify, producing the impression of an organising pole.

The composition holds through this general circulation, where sinuous trajectories and tensions of line construct a living space in expansion.

Comparative analysis / related works

Unlike the tighter 63B compositions centred on a few interacting masses, The Eye of the Centre develops a systemic logic: the scene becomes a network, and pulsation becomes architecture.

The work nevertheless retains the same rough, stratified matter and the contrast between dark cavities and red envelopes that characterise the period.

It appears as an amplification of the matricial vocabulary of 1963, and as one of the points where Breuillaud’s painting shifts from local drama to global mapping.

Justification of dating and attribution

The 1963 dating is supported by the red palette and by the use of greenish and yellow filaments typical of segment 63B, as well as by the degree of network complexity still tied to a dense, worked matter.

The very large format corresponds to a phase of affirmation in which the artist monumentalises his organic systems.

Mention of the work in the Georges Pillement catalogue (1967) reinforces the chronological anchoring. Attribution to André Breuillaud is coherent with the whole language of 1963: red matrix, internal circulation, cells, cavities and a central organising principle.

Provenance / exhibitions / publications

Georges Pillement catalogue, 1967, colour plate V.