Technical information
- Title : Rue Lepic Market
- Date : 1951
- Technique : Oil on canvas
- Dimensions : 46 × 55 cm
- Location : Private collection
Biographical / historical context
In 1951, the market on Rue Lepic (Montmartre, Paris) became one of Breuillaud’s recurring motifs: a theatre of brief interactions, flows and pauses, which he translated into rhythms of forms and colours. Through this subject, the painter continued his effort to “construct” the urban scene without naturalising it, favouring the assembly of planes.
Formal / stylistic description
The composition is organised around a stall structure and simplified silhouettes treated as angular volumes. Often emphatic contours reinforce an effect of cut-out shapes, while chromatic fields—deep greens, reds, ochres and blues—structure masses more than they describe details.
The eye moves between figures and merchandise surfaces, like a scene caught on the fly yet recomposed according to a plastic logic.
Comparative analysis / related works
By its format and subject, the work stands at the heart of the 1951 market series, in direct dialogue with At the Market (more muted palette, tighter space) and Ordener Market (broader scale and a more open “breathing” of space). The faceted colour treatment and the reduction of figures to volumetric signs are characteristic of this period.
Justification of dating and attribution
Its stylistic coherence with other market scenes dated 1951 (interlocking planes, geometrised silhouettes, contrasted chromatic range) supports the dating. The signature “Breuillaud”, visible at lower right on the reproduction, confirms the attribution.
Provenance / exhibitions / publications
Public sale, Blanchet (Paris), 11 October 2010.
© Bruno Restout — Catalogue raisonné André Breuillaud