Swiss Art Brut - From the Origins of the Collection to the Present

Catalogue of the exhibition Art Brut in Switzerland, presented at the Collection de l’Art Brut, Lausanne (27 February – 27 September 2026).

The book "Art Brut in Switzerland" is being published to mark the anniversary exhibition celebrating 50 years of the Collection de l’Art Brut (Switzerland). It brings together a wide range of works from a diverse array of sources, drawn exclusively from the collections of the Lausanne museum, and created by Swiss artists or those who have worked in Switzerland.

With Switzerland as their central theme, this publication and the accompanying exhibition highlight the close and enduring ties between Jean Dubuffet—the founder of the concept of art brut—and the country, which led him to donate his collection of art brut to the city of Lausanne to ensure its long-term preservation and public display.

A foreword by the writer Metin Arditi precedes a text by Sarah Lombardi, director of the museum and curator of the exhibition, followed by Jean Dubuffet’s handwritten notes recounting his journey to Switzerland in the summer of 1945 in search of extra-cultural works; a previously unpublished document reproduced here in facsimile. The book also contains contributions from Michel Thévoz, the museum’s first director, and Lucienne Peiry, who succeeded him until 2011, Andreas Steck, president of the Aloïse Corbaz Association, as well as Astrid Berglund and Eleanor Philippoz, curator and visitor engagement officer respectively at the Collection de l’Art Brut.

Sarah Lombardi, an art historian, was appointed director of the Collection de l’Art Brut in 2013. Since taking up her post, she has focused on promoting the Lausanne-based institution’s collections, which comprise 70,000 works, whilst continuing to expand the museum’s holdings through the discovery of new artists working in the art brut tradition, to whom she dedicates exhibitions and publications.

Metin Arditi is the author of a significant body of work, including *Le Turquetto* (Actes Sud, 2011, Jean Giono Prize), *L’enfant qui mesurait le monde* (Grasset, 2016, Méditerranée Prize), L’homme qui peignait les âmes (Grasset, 2021, Prix de l’Université catholique de l’Ouest), Tu seras mon père (Grasset, 2022, Prix Machiavel) and Le danseur oriental (Grasset, 2025).