“Art does not come to lie down in the beds that have been made for it; it runs away as soon as anyone utters its name: it likes being incognito. Its best moments are when it forgets what it’s called.”

Jean Dubuffet’s comments can be envisaged as the central point around which the concept of Art Brut is articulated: those who create Art Brut are creators free from all cultural conditioning or social conformity. They are inmates of psychiatric hospitals, loners, misfits, prisoners, marginalised people of every sort.

These artists create in a self-taught fashion, in silence, secrecy and solitude. Their ignorance of artistic traditions permits them to produce work that is original and subversive.

La Collection de l’Art Brut is seen as a historic point of reference throughout the world. Every year, 40,000 visitors discover the works gathered together in this museum, which today has 70,000 pieces.