Collection de l'art brut

The Collection de l'art brut is an art museum in Lausanne, Switzerland, dedicated to outsider art, that is, works created outside the boundaries of official culture and academic training. Founded in 1976, it holds a leading position internationally as a repository and study centre for art brut, a term coined by the French painter Jean Dubuffet to describe art produced by self-taught creators working in conditions of social and cultural isolation. The museum's collection, which originated from Dubuffet's personal holdings donated to the city, now encompasses approximately 70,000 works by around 1,000 artists from Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas.

The museum's origins trace to 1945, when Jean Dubuffet began systematically acquiring works he would later term art brut. His interest had been sparked in the 1920s by the publications of German psychiatrist Hans Prinzhorn, who had assembled a collection of patient art at Heidelberg. Dubuffet, together with Paul Budry, conducted research in Swiss psychiatric hospitals and prisons, seeking archives of patient and inmate creations. From 1947 to 1951, he organised exhibitions in Paris, and in 1948 founded the Compagnie de l'art brut with fellow artists, housed in a pavilion provided by publisher Gaston Gallimard. When Dubuffet moved to the United States in 1951, part of the collection was stored at the estate of painter Alfonso Ossorio in East Hampton. After returning to France, Dubuffet sought unsuccessfully for years to find a permanent home for the collection in Paris. In 1971, he donated his holdings, then comprising about 5,000 works, to the city of Lausanne, which had offered suitable premises. The museum opened to the public on 28 February 1976 in the Château de Beaulieu. Michel Thévoz directed the institution from 1976 to 2001, followed by Lucienne Peiry (2001-2012), and Sarah Lombardi, who became interim director in 2012 and was confirmed as director in 2013. Since 1976, the museum has continuously expanded its holdings through acquisitions and donations, organised numerous exhibitions, and published scholarly works on art brut.

The collection is built upon Dubuffet's foundational principle that art brut is defined not by pathology but by its complete independence from academic and cultural conditioning. The works were created by individuals living in conditions of profound isolation, including psychiatric patients, prisoners, social outcasts, and self-taught visionaries, who used art for personal expression rather than public recognition or financial gain. The holdings include sculptures, composite objects, tapestries, assembled and embroidered textiles, drawings, and paintings executed in diverse and often unconventional or recycled materials. While many artists experienced mental illness, the unifying characteristic is the rejection of institutional artistic norms. The collection has grown from approximately 1,200 works by about 100 artists at the time of Dubuffet's donation to roughly 70,000 works by some 1,000 creators. About 700 works form the permanent display. The museum is currently undertaking digitisation of the entire collection.

The collection features significant bodies of work by European artists alongside contributions from African, Asian, North and South American creators. Among the artists represented are Judith Scott, whose work was featured in a solo exhibition in 2001; Louis Soutter, discovered by Dubuffet in 1945; Marguerite Burnat-Provins, shown in 2003; Eugenio Santoro (2004); Alexander Pawlowitsch Lobanow (2007); Ataa Oko (2011); Daniel Johnston (2013); Michael Golz (2017); Ernst Kolb (2018); Willem van Genk (2021); and Magalí Herrera (2024). The museum has also organised thematic and travelling exhibitions, including a 2005 collaboration with photographer Mario Del Curto and the Société des Arts Indisciplinés of Montreal on the unconventional artist Richard Greaves, who created street installations in Lausanne. In 2008, the exhibition Crossing Spirit travelled to Asahikawa, Omihachiman, and Tokyo, featuring works from the collection alongside Japanese art brut.

The museum is housed in the western wing of the Château de Beaulieu, an 18th-century aristocratic residence owned by the municipality of Lausanne. The building's facade extends 48 metres in length and consists of three connected units. In 1974, the structure was specifically renovated by architects Bernard Vouga and Jean de Martini to accommodate the art brut collection. The Château de Beaulieu is today classified as a cultural property of national significance in the canton of Vaud.

The Collection de l'art brut is located in Lausanne, in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland. It operates as a municipal institution, owned by the city of Lausanne following Dubuffet's 1971 donation. The museum presents both permanent and temporary exhibitions, including solo shows and thematic presentations, and maintains an active publishing programme. Its official website is https://www.artbrut.ch. The Fondation Jean Dubuffet, established in Paris in 1974, holds responsibility for certain collection materials returned from the United States that had belonged to the Compagnie de l'art brut, as well as for Jean Dubuffet's library.