In the aftermath of the Second World War, this elusive and controversial artist brings together a radical critique of the art and culture of his time, making invention constantly renewed, the pillar of creation and thoughts. Borrowing from anthropology, folklore or the field of psychiatry, he continued the decompartmentalization operated by the avant-gardes of the inter-war period, dynamiting the beliefs in a supposedly primitive art and opening new paths of creation.

This exhibition shows how Jean Dubuffet interweaves in his work his painting and writing activities with the research he has devoted to what he calls the Art Brut. The show presents his artistic production in all its diversity, paying particular attention to showing the objects and documents resulting from the surveys that it has implemented by visiting ethnographic or folk art museums, but also various collections dedicated to " the art of fools".

The exhibition "Jean Dubuffet, a barbarian in Europe" presents more than 300 works and objects from the largest French and European collections.