Technical sheet
- Title: Untitled
- Date: c. 1963
- Technique: Pastel
- Dimensions: 50 × 65 cm
- Location: Private collection
Biographical / historical context
Around 1963, Breuillaud explored in parallel several paths within what is now recognised as the triptych of Organic Mutation:
– 63A: matricial cavities, translucent organisms;
– 63B: red worlds, incandescent centres, movements of aggregation;
– 63C: hybrid colour drawings, supple silhouettes, almost narrative figures.
This work clearly belongs to the last sub-segment.
Here pastel is used as a medium of expansion and freedom: rapid execution, light superimpositions, a vibratory atmosphere.
One sees Breuillaud temporarily moving away from the thick impasto of oil in order to recover a more graphic gesture, nourished by his memories of the drawings of 1959–1961.
The overall structure—especially the use of a pulsing red as an energetic field, and the interlacing of blue‑green silhouettes—places it in continuity with The Roots of the Night and The Garden of Maldoror, but in a lighter, more drawn version.
Formal / stylistic description
The saturated red field serves as a unified matrix within which unfold:
– blue‑green forms, sometimes almost humanoid, sometimes strictly amoeboid,
– small ovoid heads, some with an eye circled by a black line,
– dynamic projections of orange, yellow, and phosphorescent green,
– a fine network of black, quasi-calligraphic strokes that close the forms as if they were seen through a membrane.
One also observes:
– a principle of chromatic hybridisation specific to Breuillaud around 1963: greenish blues infiltrate the red to create an unstable, shifting, moving territory;
– a spiral organisation around a central nucleus (the yellow‑green form at centre-left) that seems to attract or repel the surrounding figures;
– the typical use of midnight-blue shadows applied at the periphery, reinforcing the impression of a closed organic space—almost cavern-like.
The black line is essential: it acts as a supple skeleton, at once contour, vibration, and nervous pulse. One finds here an affinity with the inks of 1961–1962.
Comparative analysis / related works
This work has strong affinities with:
– AB-63B-1963-006 The Roots of the Night (same red structure and floating figures);
– AB-63C-1963-009 Rupestrian (drawn aspect, stylised bestiary, cave-painting spirit);
– AB-63A-1963-008 (same use of pastel as a medium for the apparition of forms).
The major difference is that here Breuillaud shifts toward a quasi-choreographic multi-agent scene in which each figure seems to act, float, and react to an internal pressure within the red field.
The “drawn” character is more pronounced than in 63B: one senses Breuillaud of drawing and line—almost a graphic tale.
Dating rationale
The dating c. 1963 is consistent with:
– the graphic handwriting (a supple, closed black line typical of 1962–63),
– the extremely specific red‑blue palette,
– the orbital dynamics of forms, which fully appear only between mid‑1963 and 1964,
– the immediate formal proximity to AB-63C-1963-009 and AB-63A-1963-008.
No verso is known—prudence is required: c. 1963 is the correct notation.
Image data
Pastel on paper; highly saturated colours, traces of rubbing and dilution.
Overall condition: good (according to the photograph).
Signature at lower right (typical of the 63C pastels).