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Born in Le Havre in 1901, Jean Dubuffet hesitated for a long time between being a wine merchant and an artist. It was only in 1942 that he concentrated definitively on painting. A great protester against the established order, for the forty years of his artistic career, Jean Dubuffet focused on obeying no pre-established rules except that of reinventing our relationship with the world by freeing it from acquired concepts.
His model: the ordinary man at work, whose productions captivate him much more than the skilful games in which men of culture take pleasure. His interest in works in the margins of the cultural circuit led him to found the collection of Art Brut (Raw Art) now in Lausanne, a constant source of stimulation for his work. His artistic production was marked by multiple experiments grouped in different cycles the longest of which is the Hourloupe (1962-1974), a mental and dematerialized projection of the world.
A prolific artist, painter, writer, and musician, Dubuffet continually questioned himself, making a clean sweep to start new projects. In addition, did he not write: “a single healthy diet for the creation of art: that of permanent revolution”?
| 1901 | Born in Le Havre to wine merchant parents. |
| 1918-1919 | Attends the Académie Julian in Paris which he leaves after 6 months. |
| 1924 | Doubts the values of culture, leaves for Buenos Aires. |
| 1925-1932 | Abandons painting. Establishes his own wine trading business at Bercy (Paris). |
| 1933-1936 | Starts painting again. |
| 1937 | Again abandons painting to regain control over his business which is bankrupt. |
| 1942 | Decides to concentrate on painting definitively. |
| 1944 | PFirst exhibition, which provokes lively controversy (Galerie René Drouin). |
| 1945 | Invents the term “art brut” (Raw art) and initial prospecting in France and Switzerland. |
| 1947-1950 | Visits the Algerian Sahara. First exhibition in New York (Pierre Matisse Gallery). |
| 1951-1952 | Spends 6 months in New York. Gives his speech Anticultural positions in Chicago. |
| 1955-1959 | Lives between Paris and Vence. |
| 1960-1961 | Retrospective at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. |
| 1962 | Start of the Hourloupe cycle that lasts 12 years.
Retrospective in New York, Museum of Modern Art. |
| 1964 | Publication of the first volume of the catalogue raisonné (38 vol.). |
| 1966 | Start of a series of sculptures in expanded polystyrene. |
| 1967 | DDonation to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs and publication of the first volumes of Prospectus and tous écrits suivants (collection of all his writings). |
| 1968 | Publication of Asphyxiante culture. |
| 1969-1970 | First commission for a monumental sculpture (Chase Manhattan Bank, New York). Construction of sculpture studios at Périgny-sur-Yerres. |
| 1973 | RRetrospectives in New York and Paris and performances of his show Coucou Bazar. Construction of the Closerie Falbala finishes. Creation of the Fondation Dubuffet. |
| 1974 | End of the Hourloupe series. Building of the Summer Salon begins for the Régie Renault which was the subject of a court case that he won after 8 years. |
| 1976 | Transfer of the Collection of Art Brut to Lausanne. |
| 1984 | Represents France at the Venice Biennale. Stops painting. |
| 1985 | Writes his Biography “au pas de course”.
Jean Dubuffet dies on 12 May in Paris. |