AB-PR2-1950-019 — Landscape at Caromb (c. 1950)

Technical information

Title : Landscape at Caromb
Date : c. 1950
Technique : Oil on canvas
Dimensions : 50 × 65 cm
Location : Private collection

Biographical / historical context

This work belongs to the Provençal cycle centred on Caromb, in which Breuillaud multiplies views of villages and hills, alternating observation with simplification.

Dated around 1949–1951, this corpus is characterised by a hierarchy of superimposed planes and by a search for warm/cool balances (earth tones and red roofs set against greens and blues in the relief).

Formal / stylistic description

The composition is organised in bands: a light foreground punctuated by trunks and olive trees with sinuous branches; a middle zone with the village rendered as geometrised blocks; then a frieze of hills and mountains beneath an expansive sky.

The brushwork remains visible, particularly in the sky and in certain passages of terrain; the houses are simplified into clear volumes, roofs into reds and ochres, while the fields alternate mauves, greens and beiges.

Comparative analysis / related works

The painting relates to a group of Provençal landscapes in which architecture remains compact and “set” at the centre of the spatial scheme, while the foreground is animated by olive trees.

Compared with PR2-1950-020, which is more constructed and darker, this Landscape at Caromb preserves a more airy atmosphere and a more moderate fragmentation; it also converses with PR2-1950-017 through its attention to warm soils and the rhythms of terraces.

Justification of dating and attribution

Formal indicators point to a moderate geometrisation (planes, facets, simplification of the motif), still upstream from later research linked to the “plastic mutation”. The ochre/green palette and banded structure support a circa 1949–1951 range (confidence: medium).

Material indicators (from the images provided): stretcher with a central crossbar; primed/painted reverse; no legible inscription on the photographed reverse.

Dating retained: c. 1950. Attribution: André Breuillaud (signature visible on the recto).

Provenance / exhibitions / publications

Public sale: Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 26 Nov 2025, auctioneer Pescheteau-Badin.