Serenade

Technical information

Title : Serenade
Date : 1950
Technique : Oil on canvas (HST)
Dimensions : 36 × 61 cm
Location : Private collection

Biographical / historical context

In 1950, Breuillaud developed compositions in which the figurative scene (music, dance, carting, figures) serves as the basis for an organisation of coloured planes and curving rhythms. Serenade belongs to this moment: the iconography remains legible, but it is subordinated to an overall dynamic built from diagonals, arcs and counter‑arcs, with strongly asserted chromatic oppositions.

Formal / stylistic description

The scene unfolds as a dense frieze: at centre, a stylised female figure carrying a child; at left, a horse in profile; at right, a wheel and a structure suggesting a cart, set against architectural silhouettes and vertical vegetal forms. The space is compressed and structured by broad diagonals and arcs; the central figure, painted in blue, acts as a stable pivot within a highly saturated red‑orange environment. Orange ribbons snake across the upper register, linking the masses and imposing a continuous movement. The paint is laid on opaquely in flat areas, with sharp contours and deliberate simplifications.

Comparative analysis / related works

Serenade displays characteristic features of Breuillaud’s PR2 figurative compositions: simplified volumes, frieze‑like iconography (figures, animal, wheel), warm/cool contrasts and a rhythmic construction based on curves. The painting’s specificity lies in the legibility of its signs (horse, wheel, child) and in the role of the orange ribbons, which function as a visual “score”, unifying the field and giving a cadence consistent with the title.

Justification of dating and attribution

The date 1950 corresponds to a figuration that remains clearly present yet synthesised, to the flattening of space, to the integration of object‑signs (wheel, animal) within a plastic construction, and to the structuring, saturated palette (dominant reds/oranges set against deep blues). Documentation indicates the title is inscribed on the verso and a signature appears on the recto, elements consistent with attribution to André Breuillaud.

Provenance / exhibitions / publications

Private collection.