Technical information
- Title: Blazing Evening
- Date: 1956
- Technique: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 65 × 81 cm
- Location: Location: Unknown
Biographical / historical context
Blazing Evening belongs to the phase in which Breuillaud combines an architectured construction of space with a more expressive charge carried by the title. Even if the reproduction does not allow the colours to be read precisely, one perceives an organisation in masses and levels that evokes an interior scene or a fragmented architecture.
The title suggests an atmosphere—heat, density, tension. In 1955–1956, the artist seems precisely to seek a coexistence between structural rigour (planes, rectangles, thresholds) and sensation (light, climate, energy).
Formal / stylistic description
The composition appears as a stacking of rectangular planes, with more rounded forms breaking the strict geometry. A vertical axis marks the centre and organises the reading: it acts like a pillar or upright, around which the blocks are arranged.
Values, from light grey to deep grey, model space through contrasts and steps. Some elements seem to advance (lighter flats, sharper edges), others sink back (dark, compact zones). The whole produces a sensation of density—as if space were saturated, without any real escape.
Comparative analysis / related works
Blazing Evening can be related to Grey Forms and The Walls through the same logic of pictorial architecture. It nevertheless seems to integrate more ruptures (curved forms, stronger contrasts), which reinforces the expressive dimension announced by the title.
Within the corpus, these “constructed” works prolong the experiments of 1955 on the idea of alley or passage, but in a more purified manner: the motif becomes a memory of space, and the canvas an autonomous construction, close to a mental model.
Justification of dating and attribution
The dating 1956 is coherent with the panel-like structure and the palette of values (monochromy or near-monochromy) that correspond to the artist’s research at this moment.
The signature is not legible on the reproduction provided. Attribution rests on stylistic coherence with other architectured compositions of 1956 (construction by planes, axial organisation, nuanced values) and on the work’s natural integration into the series.
Provenance / exhibitions / publications
Provenance: not documented to date.
Exhibitions: not recorded.
Publications: not recorded.
© Bruno Restout - Catalogue raisonné André Breuillaud