For the spring of 2017, MAMCO is planning an important exhibition devoted to a contemporary mode of painting, sometimes called regressive because of how it plays with virtuosity and good taste, both in its style and its chosen subjects. That desire to “take painting backwards”, to borrow Magritte’s expression, leads us to consider closely the historical sources of these artists. It therefore seems essential to devote a room to Jean Dubuffet and to attest to the acuity of his perception of marginal forms. In that respect, we are happy to be able to borrow from the Musée Barbier-Mueller one of the Barbus Müller, the “Vendée stones” that fascinated Dubuffet, as well as one of his gouaches. In addition to the strange bewitchment emanating from these pieces, in being exhibited together they give a glimpse of how Dubuffet constituted an art history for himself that was “private” and partial (in both senses of the term).

Paul Bernard, Curator at Mamco