AB-CCL-1973-002 — Beats at the Heart of the Dream (1973)

Technical information

Title : Beats at the Heart of the Dream
Date : 1973
Technique : Oil on paper
Dimensions : Unknown
Location : Unknown

Biographical / historical context

In 1973, alongside his cosmic scenes, Breuillaud develops a more inward register in which painting becomes the projection of a mental state. Described as an exploration of what forms and un-forms beneath the surface of consciousness, this psychic cycle shifts the imagery toward membranous chambers and flowing currents—like impressions perceived behind closed eyelids.

This sheet—referred to in the documentation as Intra‑Somnia—belongs to that intimate line of research, positioned between the blues of 1972 and the later thickening of reds, and linked in the records to the artist’s Vence period.

Formal / stylistic description

The sheet is flooded with a pinkish red, lightly tinged with orange, establishing an enclosed, pulsating space—more contained than projected outward. At the center spreads a large pale, membranous form, at once organic and symmetrical, like a pouch or a beat of wings, whose edges dissolve into the surrounding color.

Within it, small figures and eyes appear as afterimages, caught in milky passages and transparencies, while a few darker nuclei punctuate the surface and fix points of condensation. Very fine filaments, incised in pencil or with a pointed tool, weave an internal network that links the elements and heightens the sense of a subterranean circulation.

Comparative analysis / related works

The work stands apart from the magmatic reds of 1971 through its muted character and inward warmth: here red is not a stage for projection, but a chamber of retention. Compared with the blue compositions in which entities detach against a cosmic space, Intra‑Somnia reverses the perspective and draws everything back inward, toward the labor of membrane and flux.

This approach—close to other oils on paper dated 1973 in the documentation—makes color the very support of form, to the point of fusion, and lends the scene a slow temporality, almost amniotic.

Justification of dating and attribution

The pink‑orange palette, situated between the blue investigations of 1972 and the denser reds of later developments, corresponds to the harmonies described for 1973. The membranous construction, supple organic line, and the use of highly diluted oil in successive glazes align with procedures observed in works on paper from the same moment.

Although the dimensions and location are not communicated, the coherence of the formal criteria and the mention of Vence in the documentation support a secure dating and attribution to André Breuillaud.