Technical information
- Title : Sibylline Universe
- Date : 1970
- Technique : Oil on canvas
- Dimensions : 73 × 100 cm
- Location : Unknown
Biographical / historical context
In 1970, Breuillaud brings the density of his MP4 period to an extreme degree: the large red canvases prolong the incandescent momentum begun at the end of 1969, while tightening space into a closed chamber where bodies seem caught in a conscious matter.
In parallel, the artist continues his inks and pastels, but Sibylline Universe represents the telluric and gravitational side: that of a world that compacts and charges itself. The work belongs to the set of documented pieces connected to the 1972 exhibition, the moment when this “organic magma” phase is fully asserted.
Formal / stylistic description
The canvas is governed by a red magma—brown and sanguine—crossed by orange pulsations and blackish zones that vary the field’s intensity like a breath.
At the centre, a more luminous zone organises a whirlpool of semi-figurative forms: torsos, heads, and busts melt, overlap, and aggregate, while scattered eyes and twisting limbs animate the surface. Two blue-black faces, placed in counterpoint, cool the scene and introduce a psychic fracture, like thresholds within the general fusion.
The internal drawing—filaments, nervous lines, micro-gestures—remains very present and seems to struggle to maintain articulation within the red matter, giving the whole an oracular quality: a closed space where forms whisper more than they narrate.
Comparative analysis / related works
Through its logic of a living cavern and the proliferation of eyes and fused bodies, Sibylline Universe is close to earlier MP4 compositions marked by limbo scenes, notably AB-MP4-1966-002 (Limbes), but with a red incandescence here brought to a graver maturity.
In relation to the works of 1969, the canvas reduces zones of aeration and accentuates the aggregation of forms; it anticipates certain “melted heads” and densifications of the early 1970s, while still retaining the relief and warmth specific to the 1969–1970 hinge.
Justification of dating and attribution
The 1970 dating is based on the presence of a characteristic chromatic signature—saturated red, nocturnal blue counterpoints, and a network of nervous lines—and on a circular construction frequently found in medium formats of that year.
The coherence between organic fusion, extreme density, and cold punctuations distinguishes the work from later phases that are more liquid and luminous. The “70” inscription reported on the canvas, together with its mention in a 1972 publication, confirms the chronological anchoring and the attribution.
Provenance / exhibitions / publications
Michelle Philippon catalogue (1972).
© Bruno Restout — Catalogue raisonné André Breuillaud