The Collection de l’Art Brut is a Lausanne museum devoted to works by self-taught creators gathered by Jean Dubuffet. Housed in the Château de Beaulieu, it presents works created outside the art world across three floors.
Fine and applied arts museums
Main highlights
- Over 70,000 works of Art Brut, including pieces by Adolf Wölfli and Aloïse Corbaz
- 18th-century Château de Beaulieu, surrounded by a park with century-old trees
- Regular temporary exhibitions devoted to a single creator or theme
Overview
The term Art Brut was coined in 1945 by French painter Jean Dubuffet. It refers to works by self-taught artists, psychiatric patients, prisoners and people on the margins of society, created outside academic conventions. From the 1940s, Dubuffet travelled across Europe to meet these creators and collect their work.
In 1971, he offered his collection to the City of Lausanne, which provided the Château de Beaulieu. The museum opened in 1976 as the first institution entirely devoted to Art Brut. After Dubuffet’s death in 1985, the collection continued to grow through donations and acquisitions.
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What to see and do
The permanent display features creators who each developed a personal visual language. Materials vary : traditional supports, salvaged objects, thread, fabric, pebbles. Among the major figures, Adolf Wölfli, a Swiss psychiatric patient, produced thousands of pages combining drawings, texts and musical compositions over 35 years. Aloïse Corbaz created brightly coloured drawings of theatrical and romantic scenes.
The museum also gives space to architectural environments, such as the Facteur Cheval’s Palais idéal and Nek Chand’s Rock Garden, presented through photographs and models. Temporary exhibitions explore the work of a single creator or a theme.
The presentation is understated, with biographical labels. The high ceilings allow large-format works to be displayed. An audiovisual room screens documentaries about some of the creators.
Practical information
Getting there : Pontaise district, bus 2 or 3 to the Beaulieu-Jomini stop, a 2-minute walk away. Paid parking at the nearby Palais de Beaulieu.
Accessibility : the museum is partially accessible to visitors with reduced mobility, with a lift serving the main floors.
On site : a cafeteria for drinks and snacks, and a shop selling catalogues, postcards, posters and books on Art Brut.
Visiting tips
The works can be disconcerting at first : take time to pause in front of each one. Guided tours shed light on the creators’ lives; book them via the museum’s website.
The château’s park is ideal for a stroll before or after your visit. This place is part of the Discover Lausanne on foot selection.
Nearby
- The Olympic Museum, on the shores of Lake Geneva, showcases the spirit of Olympism.
- The Naturéum, Cantonal Museum of Natural Sciences brings together the botany, geology and zoology of the canton of Vaud.
- The Château St-Maire is a fortified 15th-century bishop’s residence overlooking the old town.
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