The Cart

Technical information

Title : The Cart
Date : 1950
Technique : Oil on canvas (HST)
Dimensions : 81 × 65 cm
Location : Private collection *

Biographical / historical context

A large composition related to the Provençal agricultural cycle, The Cart belongs to Breuillaud’s 1950 works in which rural scenes are transformed into geometric choreographies.

The painting stages a small narrative—two seated women and a man seen from behind leading the donkey—relatively rare within the PR2 corpus, otherwise dominated by landscapes and isolated figures. The work marks a milestone: the artist orchestrates a moving group and seeks a balance between narrative and formal construction.

Formal / stylistic description

The composition is strongly segmented into coloured planes (red, green, violet, yellow), with a solar atmosphere filtered through red and ochre dominants. The animal mass and the cart’s boards structure the centre, while broad diagonals organise the movement.

Space is deliberately compressed: foreground and background draw closer, increasing the scene’s density. A large chromatic arc (sky and the mountainous background) envelops the figures in a circular motion. The seated woman at right, in black, takes on a particular monumentality within the 1950 corpus.

Comparative analysis / related works

The work is closely linked to PR2-1950-006/007 through the segmented treatment of figures, and to PR2-1950-012/013 (Olive Harvests) through its rural theme and group dynamics.

Indirectly, its composite monumentality evokes certain formal ambitions of the Christ on the Cross (PR1, 1950). Within PR2, The Cart acts as a pivot: a human group structured like a cubist landscape.

Justification of dating and attribution

The degree of segmentation and the mastery of group dynamics suggest a work made after the women with headscarf (PR2-1950-006/007) and contemporaneous with the Olive Harvests (mid to late 1950).

The mention of a title and date on the back (as reported in the documentation) supports this proposal. The formal characteristics align with Breuillaud’s 1950 research and confirm attribution.

Provenance / exhibitions / publications

Public sale Blanchet (Paris), 11 October 2010. Private collection.