Technical details
- Title : Provençal Saraband
- Date : 1948
- Technique : Oil on canvas
- Dimensions : 89 × 116 cm
- Location : Private collection
Biographical / historical context
Sarabande provençale belongs to the large figurative compositions of the post-war period, in which Breuillaud turned to dances, processions and popular rites. Around 1948, such collective scenes allowed him to unite movement and construction within an iconography that affirms an attachment to Provence and its traditions.
By virtue of its scale, the work goes beyond an étude: it seeks a synthetic image—both decorative and expressive—built on the rhythm of the silhouettes.
Formal / stylistic description
The composition unfolds like a frieze: a sequence of stylised figures, with angular limbs and pronounced twists, advances from left to right. The bodies, treated in flat areas of colour, are outlined with dark contours; the faces are reduced to mask-like forms, heightening the sense of procession.
The palette favours reds, browns and yellows, set against darker zones that densify the space. The background, little described, functions as a colour field meant to bring out the cadence of the forms and the sensation of dance.
Comparative analysis / related works
The work belongs to a corpus of collective scenes in which Breuillaud explores the moving figure, simplifying it almost to an ideogram. One finds the same attention to the cadence of steps, the repetition of silhouettes, and a band-like structure akin to mural decoration.
Through the tension between coloured planes and vigorous outlines, Sarabande provençale anticipates later explorations of dance and procession, while retaining an energy specific to the late 1940s.
Justification of dating and attribution
The dating to 1948 accords with the intensified chromatic range and the radical stylisation of the figures that characterise Breuillaud’s large compositions of the PR1 period. The frieze-like treatment and the emphasis on rhythm belong to this phase of formal experimentation.
The attribution is supported by stylistic coherence with Breuillaud’s contemporary works and by the visible signature on the composition.
Provenance / exhibitions / publications
Published: reproduced in Michelle Philippon’s book (1992).
Current location: private collection.
© Bruno Restout - Catalogue raisonné André Breuillaud