AB-MP2-1957-004 — Barbarian (1957)

Technical information

Title: Barbarian
Date: 1957
Technique: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 65 × 50 cm
Location: Private collection

Biographical / historical context

In 1957, within the MP2 cycle, André Breuillaud deepens a constructed abstraction in which motif is no longer described but transposed into plastic forces: arcs, knots, colour planes and “joints” that organise space.

The title Barbarian suggests less a scene than an energy—an archaic, almost totemic form translated through a dynamic of winding and chromatic impacts. The work belongs to a moment when Breuillaud’s painting oscillates between organic sign and mental architecture.

Formal / stylistic description

The composition is organised around broad, curved ribbons, segmented into facets, which cross and overlap like a moving weave. A central coil acts as a pivot: it gathers directions, then relaunches circulation toward the edges of the canvas.

The palette combines deep blues and violets, which form the field, with brighter passages (oranges, reds, yellows, turquoise). Transitions occur through sharp juxtapositions or softened passages; a light network of coloured outlines (greenish or bluish) sometimes underlines the cuts, reinforcing the mosaic effect.

The paint remains legible: reworked layers, rubbings and overpaintings allow underlying tones to surface. Space is deliberately ambiguous: the ribbons can be read both as twisting volumes and as cut-out planes, maintaining tension between depth and surface.

Comparative analysis / related works

Through its vocabulary of segmented curves, Barbarian dialogues with other 1957 compositions in which Breuillaud explores a “ribbon” syntax: form is built by bands, and colour becomes a means of scansion rather than simple filling.

Compared with Red Landscape (AB-MP2-1957-005), the work retains a more articulated, more contrasted structure: the cool blue–violet field plays the role of breathing space, whereas the other painting tends toward a warm saturation that compresses depth. This difference highlights two complementary poles within the MP2 cycle: architecture by joints and continuous chromatic mass.

The 1958 researches around Vines in Autumn extend this logic: ribbons and facets become more legible as landscape signs (rows, vines, structures), whereas Barbarian still privileges ambiguity between the organic and the constructed.

Justification of dating and attribution

The dating to 1957 is consistent with the formal language of the MP2 cycle: faceted segmentation, circulation through arcs, vivid chromatic contrasts on a cool ground, and a balance between gesture and construction.

The signature is visible on the reproduction, and attribution is supported by stylistic coherence with the other 1957 compositions: the same ribbon-like divisions, the same reworked material, and the same way of articulating colour through juxtaposed planes.