"Personally, I believe very much in the values of savagery; by that I mean instinct, passion, mood, violence, madness."
Jean Dubuffet was already interested in fine arts when he was still at school, so when he traveled to Paris in 1918, he decided to become a painter. At first, Dubuffet attended painting courses at the 'Académie Julian' for six months before he gave up his studies. After his military service and a trip to Italy, Dubuffet returned to Le Havre in 1925, where he initially worked as a wine merchant. When Dubuffet returned to painting in 1933, this was once again only temporary.
In 1942 he decided once an for all, to dedicate his entire attention to art. The realization of his own dream as real life instead of conforming with society in a 'cultural' order turned Dubuffet into a consistent loner. Dubuffet's readiness to take risks, his openness and great intelligence were reflected in his great versatility: He continuously abandoned achievements to produce something new. The artist's oeuvre ranges from archetypal figures of the 1940s to unrestrained outbursts of gestural brushstrokes in his last paintings. His versatile contents find their formal counterpart in the usage and combination of various materials. Even before his death in 1985, Jean Dubuffet's work was honored with a retrospective in Paris, Hanover and Zurich and numerous international exhibitions.