Jean Dubuffet, a barbarian in Europe

Temporary Exhibition

September 8th, 2020 to February 28th, 2021

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Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985), painter, sculptor and writer, was a major player on the 20th century art scene. The exhibition "Jean Dubuffet, a barbarian in Europe" pays him homage and focuses on the artist's visit to post-war Switzerland, in particular to the MEG, a decisive journey in defining the “Art Brut”.

Aftermath of the Second World War, this elusive and polemical artist brought into play a radical critique of the art and culture of his time. Trying to break free from the dominant codes of art history, he explores many techniques with total freedom. The exhibition path shows how Dubuffet intertwines his artistic activities in his work with the research he has devoted to "Art Brut". We can see the diversity of his production as well as objects from his own collection and others from ethnographic museums or psychiatric hospitals that he has seen and appreciated over the years.

The exhibition path shows how Dubuffet intertwines his artistic activities with the research he has devoted to "Art Brut" in his work.

The exhibition features nearly 300 works from the largest French and European collections. It is organised with the support of the Dubuffet Foundation and the generous collaboration of the Art Brut Collection in Lausanne.

"Jean Dubuffet, a barbarian in Europe" is a co-production with the Mucem (Marseille) and the IVAM (Institute of Modern Art of Valencia, Spain).

Visit for children

Too conceptual for children, Dubuffet ? Quite the opposite. Old and young, aged 6 and upwards, are invited to discover the thinking and work of this extraordinary artist thanks to an adapted visit which takes place in two parts.

At the heart of the exhibition, in dialogue with the works, four units present Dubuffet’s unique gaze and the way in which he completely changed our defi nition of the fi eld of art. After this initiation, young and old can put into practice this artist’s major contributions through four recreational, creative activities in different spaces of MEG. This is the second part of this novel proposition.

Entitled “Dubuffet’s little factory” and designed by Mucem and the “Jaune Sardine” and “Les Marsiens” collectives, these installations are an invitation to create unconventional portraits, assemble fi gures of the “common man”, play with words or draw on the walls of a hut in the “Hourloupe” style. An invitation to make a detour, for as Dubuffet reminds us : “True art is always found in unexpected places. Where no one thinks about it or speaks its name”.

Benefiting Partners

A partnership between MEG, Art Brut collection in Lausanne, and Barbier-Mueller Museum in Geneva is set up in order to offer visitors the possibility of continuing their discovery of Jean Dubuffet and "art brut".

An entrance ticket to MEG exhibition gives free admission to the Art Brut collection exhibitions as well as to “The Barbus Müller, their enigmatic sculptor finally unmasked” exhibition at Barbier-Mueller Museum.

And vice versa, the entrance ticket to either institution gives free admission to MEG “Jean Dubuffet, a Barbarian in Europe” exhibition.

Offer valid until
MEG : February 28, 2021
Art Brut collection : February 28, 2021
Barbier-Mueller Museum : November 1, 2020