Art brut : dans l'intimité d'une collection. La donation Decharme au centre Pompidou

Exhibition at the Grand Palais, Paris, 20 June - 21 September 2025

Produced on the fringes of society, sometimes in secrecy, most works of art brut come down to us only by chance of discovery or the action of someone close to the artist. For forty-five years, collector and film-maker Bruno Decharme has been working to bring together these creations, which were born outside the recognised art world, but which today form an important part of art history.

With over 400 works from Bruno Decharme's donation to the Centre Pompidou, this exhibition catalogue explores the history of Art Brut. Starting from the collector's point of view, it highlights the creators of Art Brut and, through the essays of the specialists assembled, attempts to define it without circumscribing it. Two ‘diaries’ inserted into the publication shed further light: one contains the biographies of the 180 artists, highlighting the richness of their backgrounds, and the other a generous and original chronology of Art Brut, explaining the strong links with the histories of psychiatry, psychoanalysis, spiritualism, and modern and contemporary art.