Art brut

Form of art which regroups all kind of expressive demonstration "brute", spontaneous and immediate, with no cultural nor esthetics intentions. Strong supporter of Art brut from 1945, Jean Dubuffet sets up an exhibition of art brut in 1947 where he exposes children's drawings, insane persons' works, anonymous signs pulled from old walls, from "items of lost property". In 1948, he establishes with André Breton and Jean Paulhan 'la Compagnie de l' Art brut', advocating an art of subversion and refusal of all esthetic conformities. For Dubuffet, paint requires from now on "the respectful and creative celebration of materials, chance, gestures, impulses, ancestral spontaneity of human life when it traces signs". He is fascinated with the absence of reference to art history, not being concern with the Beautiful and he likes materials which " are usually not used for art ".

He shared the 'Fauve' interest in the primitive and spontaneous artistic manifestations, expressionists and cubists and proposed in full informal climate the style and the technique of automatism, typical of the surrealists. Over the years the collection grew rich and Dubuffet donated this collection to Switzerland where opened in Lausanne 'le Musée d’Art brut'.