Technical information
- Title : Organic Constellation
- Date : 1970
- Technique : Oil on paper
- Dimensions : 50 × 65 cm
- Location : Private collection
Biographical / historical context
Created in 1970, this work belongs to a period in which Breuillaud favors autonomous forms, detached from any descriptive scene, and develops an organico-cosmic iconography. On paper, oil paint allows him to combine nocturnal depth with the luminescence of membranes: the image reads as a living microcosm, an inner cartography in which narrative gives way to state, tension, and circulation between masses.
Formal / stylistic description
Against a deep, violet-brown ground—almost nocturnal—two large biomorphic masses float, their edges traced by a luminous green outline. To the left, an oval form functions like a receptacle: rounded compartments interlock, milky zones brighten, and a spiral nucleus in the upper register suggests a vortex or an inner eye.
To the right, a more elongated and jagged mass reprises the same principle of pockets and cavities, punctuated by orange and red accents that glow like embers. Between these two entities, a thin, upright pale vertical acts as a hinge: by turns anthropomorphic presence and abstract sign, it stabilizes the composition and prevents the masses from closing in on one another.
In the surrounding darkness, several luminous discs appear at the periphery, like constellation markers that expand the space beyond the principal forms. The line—sometimes doubled—operates as a true membrane: it encloses, protects, and orders the internal organs without fixing them, while light seems to emanate from within, through value contrasts and softened transitions. The painting sustains a deliberate ambiguity between cosmic reading, organic reading, and suggestions of profiles or embryonic figures, leaving the image open while preserving a highly controlled construction.
Comparative analysis / related works
The work resonates with Breuillaud’s 1970 research, when the “membrane-line” becomes a driving constructive force and space is conceived as a field of suspension. Compared with the cartographic pastels of the same year, it concentrates the scene in a denser chiaroscuro and exploits oil to create optical relief through glazes, rubbings, and halos. The peripheral discs and the confrontation between the two masses reinforce the sense of microcosm, consistent with the organico-cosmic imagination of the MP4 cycle.
Justification of dating and attribution
The 1970 dating is supported by the combination of a strongly violet nocturnal ground, luminescent sea-green contours, and points of orange and red acting as internal impulses—an ensemble of chromatic and structural features characteristic of works from the same year. The tension between suspended masses, the emphasis on the contour-membrane, and the presence of circular peripheral “markers” clearly place the piece within the logic of expansion and constellation explored at this moment.
Provenance / exhibitions / publications
Private collection.
© Bruno Restout - Catalogue raisonné André Breuillaud