AB-PR2-1950-013 — Olive Harvesting at Caromb (II) (1950)

Technical information

Title : Olive Harvesting at Caromb (II)
Date : 1950
Technique : Oil on canvas
Dimensions : 38 × 61 cm
Location : Private collection

Biographical / historical context

This second version of the olive harvest at Caromb revisits the same collective motif, tightening the focus on the grove itself: the action unfolds among the trees, with no narrative opening toward carts or transport.

In the PR2 phase, Breuillaud readily uses the harvest as a compositional model—repetition of gestures, alternation of crouching and standing figures, and a circulation between ground, trunks, foliage, and distant background.

The Provençal landscape is not treated as naturalistic scenery: it becomes a system of planes in which bodies, trunks, and slope follow the same constructive logic.

Formal / stylistic description

The scene is centered on an olive grove: two large trees with dark green, leafy masses occupy the upper part of the composition, while the ground is laid in broad bands of ochre and orange.

Three figures set the rhythm: two crouching silhouettes at the edges (left and right), wearing light headscarves, and a central figure in motion on a ladder (or on the incline), arm extended toward the foliage.

Drawing privileges dark contours and color facets: trunks are set on diagonals, foliage becomes modular blocks, and the distant hills are rendered in violets and reds, creating a chromatic counter-field.

Perspective is simplified; depth arises chiefly from overlaps (tree / figure / ground) and value shifts rather than from a classical geometric construction.

Comparative analysis / related works

Compared with AB-PR2-1950-012 (Olive Harvesting I), this second version removes signs of transport and heightens the sense of “immersion” among the trees: the motif becomes quieter, more compact, almost ceremonial.

The foliage, treated as modular masses, brings the work close to the Caromb landscapes (AB-PR2-1950-014), where the same logic of flat planes is applied—here, however, in a scene with figures.

The three-part device (crouching / ascending / crouching) functions as a contrapuntal structure often found in the PR2 corpus, where gestures serve as lines of force.

Justification of dating and attribution

The date 1950 is consistent with the PR2 palette (ochres, deep greens, and violet/red counterpoints) and with the post-Cubist fusion of planes (ground, trunks, bodies) into a single network.

The presence of an identifiable narrative (harvesting, ladder, gestures) places the work before the more “systematized” landscapes of 1951, while already marking a highly advanced stylization.

Attribution to André Breuillaud rests on the continuity of his vocabulary: dark contours, faceted volumes, and the articulation of rural subject matter with an autonomous chromatic construction.

Provenance / exhibitions / publications

Current location: private collection.