Born from Jean Dubuffet’s extraordinary donation of outsider creations, the Collection de l’Art Brut celebrates its 50th anniversary, looking back and forward
The elegant, understated building that houses the Collection de l’Art Brut sits in the urban landscape of the Swiss city of Lausanne. Originally a patrician residence dating from the eighteenth century, it has been the home of the Collection – which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year – since 1976.
The Collection de l’Art Brut building today
To quote Jean Dubuffet, an artist himself and the first theorist and collector of art brut, “True art is always where you least expect it.” Thanks to the establishment of the Collection de l’Art Brut, thousands of visitors have been able to find the huge body of art that he amassed. The Collection’s renown and popularity have grown over the last half century and today the museum attracts more than 40,000 people a year from around the world. On first entering the building, one is struck by the black walls, the antithesis of the White Cube aesthetic of contemporary art scenography. This intimate atmosphere has remained unchanged since the museum opened and the 300 works in the 50th-anniversary exhibition stand out as vivid against the dark walls as they did in 1976.
By CHLOÉ FALCY
This is an article extract; read the full article in Raw Vision 127.
