MUSEmemoirs

Info:

• Dates: 11.06.25 – 21.09.25
• Curator: Bruno Decharme et Barbara Safarova
• Where: Grand Palais
• Price: 15 euros/ 12 euros reduced

The Art Brut, or Outsider Art, is honoured through this exhibition at the Grand Palais, which presents more than four hundred works from the collection of Bruno Decharme. Initiated in the late 1970s, this collection is one of the most significant in the field. Decharme is not only a passionate collector but also a true connoisseur: in 1999, he founded the research centre abcd, dedicated to the complex questions raised by Art Brut itself.

The exhibition is vast, offering an impressive diversity of artists from across the globe. Rather than following a chronological path, the display is structured around thematic sections that, according to the curators, create links between the artists: those who sought to “save” humanity, those who invented new languages, those inspired by science and mathematics, or those who conjured monsters and chimeras. Each section reveals its own particularities, yet the richness of media and techniques resonates throughout.

On the second floor, the exhibition opens with a focus on ateliers dedicated to Art Brut artists—studios where they can gather and create in a protected environment. These spaces stand in tension with the very principles of freedom and raw expression that characterize Art Brut, yet they offer a fascinating glimpse into three different contexts (Belgium, the United States, and Austria).

The upstairs parcours then continues with anonymous works—frequent in this field—alongside pieces linked to spiritual practices, some dating back to the 19th century, as well as photography.

While the selection of works and artists is strong, the exhibition suffers from a certain lack of documentation. The wall texts remain superficial, offering little insight into the artists’ inspirations or processes. However, the short videos that accompany each room of the exhibition prove highly valuable: they allow visitors to see the artists at work, gaining a clearer sense of their perceptions, gestures, and ways of living.

Beyond its sheer scope, the exhibition raises essential questions about the very definition of art and creativity. By bringing together works created outside the academic canon, often by self-taught artists, individuals living on the margins of society, or those in institutional contexts, it challenges the hierarchies of legitimacy in art history. The works on view often stem from an urgent necessity to create, rather than from an aspiration to enter the art world. In this sense, they blur the boundaries between art and life, between individual expression and collective imagination. The exhibition thus invites viewers not only to admire the visual power of these creations, but also to reflect on what constitutes artistic practice itself, and on the ways in which institutions frame or contain this raw creativity.

My personal highlights:

• A.C.M, Sans titre, vers 1990
• Lazaro Antonio Martinez Duran, Sans titre, 2022
• Jean Fick