AB-PR2-1950-016 — Chromatic Architecture (1950)

Technical information

Title : Chromatic Architecture
Date : 1950
Technique : Oil on canvas
Dimensions : 45 × 59 cm
Location : Private collection

Biographical / historical context

Within the PR2 corpus, certain landscapes shift from synthetic description toward an almost “architectural” construction of color: territory becomes an assembly of chromatic volumes.

Under the title “Chromatic Architecture,” the work states this intention openly: hills, village, and trees are less objects than a framework of tones and masses, ordered like a composed structure.

This type of landscape anticipates the tighter systematization of 1951 while retaining a figurative respiration (readable buildings, horizon line, cypresses).

Formal / stylistic description

A village is seen against rising ground: a pale slope (beige/ochre) in the foreground leads to a set of trees and gardens in greens and blues, built in broad planes.

The village is rendered as light blocks (whites and yellows) with orange roofs set into the green. Several narrow, dark green cypresses punctuate the scene vertically and organize space.

The distance is closed by a broad blue hill beneath a dark violet sky. This contrast (luminous greens against a violaceous sky) lends the landscape an almost nocturnal gravity without sacrificing the clarity of volumes.

Contours, sometimes emphasized, serve to cut the planes: the overall effect is that of a stabilized mosaic in which each patch of color plays a constructive role.

Comparative analysis / related works

Compared with AB-PR2-1950-014 (Landscape at Caromb), segmentation is more pronounced here: fewer transitions, more blocks, and a verticalization of landmarks (cypresses) that “architect” the composition.

The work extends, in the register of landscape, the synthetic research visible in the 1950 figure scenes (harvesting): the same will to transform a local motif into a device of planes, prefiguring 1951 while remaining attached to the village’s legibility.

Justification of dating and attribution

The date 1950 is plausible in view of the PR2 combination of a still-stable figuration (identifiable buildings and trees) and an already ambitious segmentation (mosaic of planes, strong contrasts).

The tension between monumental cohesion and simplified detail places the work after the more “supple” landscapes of 1950 and before the more systematic solutions of 1951.

Attribution to André Breuillaud accords with his manner: colored planes, muted yet structuring contours, and the treatment of Provençal motifs as an architecture of color.

Provenance / exhibitions / publications

Current location: private collection.