Lecciones Botanica 1925

Jean Dubuffet painted Lecciones Botanica with oil paint, at a time when Paris was recovering from war. Dubuffet was interested in creating a new kind of art, one free from academic tradition and the established art world. He achieved this by looking at the art of children and the mentally ill. Dubuffet called this raw art or “art brut”. Raw art was created outside the boundaries of official culture. It rejected conventional standards of beauty. As you can see, Dubuffet makes no attempt to create realistic figures. Instead, we see a child-like style and naive representation. To understand Dubuffet’s work better we can consult his manifestos, letters and essays, and delve into the historical context in which he was working. Raw art was socially progressive because it gave value and visibility to art that would otherwise be ignored.