After his dismissal from the École du meuble in September 1948, following the publication of the Refus global manifesto, Paul-Émile Borduas knew that he could henceforth rely only on his art to ensure his and his family’s livelihood. From June 2 to 4, 1951, he presented a surprise exhibition at his studio in Mont-Saint-Hilaire. It is in this improvised gallery that the public discovered Composition.

In his formal analysis of these paintings, François-Marc Gagnon points out the presence of a bouquet of spots that he has also observed in several of the artist’s recent watercolours; he also points out that the construction of space seems to borrow some of its attributes from the more traditional genres of landscape and still life. Finally, he notes the presence of a linear structure that could be reminiscent of Piet Mondrian’s Arbres (Trees) series.[1] Although the structural principles that govern the composition of the work, along with its relationship to nature, are important elements in interpreting his work, Borduas’s pictorial explorations go beyond a solely formal or technical reading.

A year before the events that would push him into exile, did Borduas foresee his forced departure from Saint-Hilaire? During the winter, he made a dozen wooden sculptures to which, to the surprise of his critics, he gave the names of countries and territories: the United States, France, Greece, Japan, England, Russia… These wood carvings Borduas seems to have produced as a discreet homage to his pioneering ancestors (he used only wood from the region as a material), and also as a mark of respect for his father, Magloire Borduas, a skilled carpenter and blacksmith.

This painting is also presented as a heartfelt testimony to his mother, Éva Perreault, “known in the village of Saint-Hilaire for the beauty of her garden.”[2] More generally, the work here translates the artist’s attachment not only to his family but also to his country of origin, to its orchards in bloom, to the beauty of the Richelieu. Painted during one of the darkest periods of Borduas’s life—his wife Gabrielle would soon leave him, taking their three children with her—the work expresses through a very personal vision the considerable hold that this Eden exerts on him. Will he be forced to leave this world that is so familiar to him? Will he accept pursuing his career as an artist abroad and being deprived of direct contact with his natural environment? Beneath its apparent luxuriance, Composition hides an anxiety about the future. For all these reasons, both formal and emotional, it is not surprising that this painting was chosen for the cover of the catalogue of the exhibition Saint-Hilaire et les automatistes, which was held at the Musée d’art de Mont-Saint-Hilaire in 1997, in anticipation of the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Refus global.

The painting became the property of Dr. and Mme. Alphonse Campeau. It was kept for a long time in Borduas’s residence, which the doctor acquired in 1953, a few months before the departure of the leader of the Automatists for the United States.

The painting, created before Borduas left his home, may also preserve the memory of the three trees that Borduas is said to have planted around 1945 in tribute to his three children: Janine (born in 1936), Renée (born in 1939), and Paul (born in 1940). The Paul-Émile Borduas House, now classified as a heritage building, is located on a property surrounded by several trees, two of which are in bloom in the photographs shown above.

We thank Gilles Lapointe, associate professor in the Department of Art History at the Université du Québec à Montréal and author of several books on Paul-Émile Borduas and the Automatist movement, for contributing the above essay, translated from the French.

This lot is accompanied by a copy of the Saint-Hilaire et les automatistes exhibition booklet, which features Composition on the cover.

1. François-Marc Gagnon, Paul-Émile Borduas (1905 – 1960): Biographie critique et analyse de l’oeuvre (Montreal: Fides, 1978), 303.

2. Ibid., 4.