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Jean Dubuffet was already interested in fine arts, when he was still at school, so that 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 realisation of his own dream as real life instead of conforming with society in a 'cultural' order turned Dubuffet in a consistant loner. Dubuffet's readyness 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 archetypical figures of the 1940s to unrestrained outbursts of gestural brushstrokes in his last paintings. His versatile contents find their formal counterpart in the useage 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.
