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Adolf Wölfli was born in the canton of Bern, Switzerland. At the age of seven he was abandoned by his father. The boy remained alone with his mother for two years, before being placed in peasant families where he worked as a goatherd and farmhand. Later he became a woodcutter, then a labourer. A few years afterwards Wölfli was arrested for indecent exposure and imprisoned for two years. On his release, he committed the offence again and in 1899 was admitted to the hospital in Waldau, near Bern, where he stayed until he died.
Adolf Wölfli started to draw, write and compose music at the age of 35. His output was colossal. It included 25,000 pages strewn with graphic compositions done with crayons, but also collages, literary creations and musical scores. In his drawings, figures whose eyes are surrounded by a mask are combined with musical notes, snippets of text and brightly coloured shapes. The ornamental elements have both a decorative and a rhythmic function.
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18 items available
Vehicles (french version)
Véhicules (édition en français), Michel Thévoz and Anic Zanzi, with a Preface by Sarah Lombardi, Vehicles, Lausanne/Milan, Collection de l’Art Brut/5 Continents Editions, 2013, Art Brut, la collection Directed by Sarah Lombardi.20,5 x 25,5 cm, 168 pages, 130 color illustrations.
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Jean Dubuffet's Art Brut, the origins of the collection (2016) New edition 2020
L'Art Brut de Jean Dubuffet, aux origines de la collection [Jean Dubuffet's Art Brut, the origins of the collection], directed by Sarah Lombardi, with texts by Sarah Lombardi a.o., Lausanne, Paris: Collection de l'Art Brut, Flammarion, 2016, 224 pp, 170 color illus., bilingual French/English.
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Architecture (english version)
Architectures, Lausanne/ Milan, Collection de l’Art Brut/ 5 Continents Editions, 2015, "Art Brut, la collection" publication series directed by Sarah Lombardi, 20.5 x 25.5 cms, 168 pages, 142 color plates. Separate French and English versions.
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Architecture
Architectures, Lausanne/ Milan, Collection de l’Art Brut/ 5 Continents Editions, 2015, "Art Brut, la collection" publication series directed by Sarah Lombardi, 20.5 x 25.5 cms, 168 pages, 142 color plates. Separate French and English versions
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Almanach de l'Art Brut
Almanach de l’Art Brut, Jean Dubuffet et al.Fac-similé [maquette originale de 1948] Edition établie et présentée sous la direction de Sarah Lombardi et Baptiste Brun, en collaboration avec Vincent Monod, Lausanne/Milan, Collection de l’Art Brut/SIK-ISEA/ 5 Continents Editions, 792 pages, 2016, 21 x 28, 387 illustrations en couleur et n/b relié. ISBN est 978-88-7439-737-2
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The Art Brut Fascicle N°02
The Art Brut Fascicle N°02, 18 x 24 cm, 150 ill. black/white or color, about 160 pp. Since 1964 to 2013.In French. One fascicle CHF 30.-
Price Complete collection, 25 fascicles (N°2 - N°26) : CHF 720.-
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Notebook "Adolf Wölfli"
Notebook 32 pages, 145 mm x 220 mm
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Art Brut Swiss Made (DE)
Swiss Made, l’Art Brut en Suisse, sous la direction de Sarah Lombardi, Collection de l’Art Brut (Lausanne), 2018, disponible en Français, allemand, anglais et italien.
Écrire en dessinant. Quand la langue cherche son autre (édition française)
Through the work of nearly a hundred contemporary artists and Art Brut personalities, the exhibition Scrivere Disegnando and the catalogue Ecrire en dessinant explore writing’s shadow side. A terra incognita where arabesques, reiterated marks, scribblings, compulsive writings produce “meaning” in a field outside of language by becoming axioms of the unspeakable, of what is unfathomable in the soul as well as in language.
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Writing by Drawing. when Language Seeks Its Other (English version)
Through the work of nearly a hundred contemporary artists and Art Brut personalities, the exhibition Scrivere Disegnando and the catalogue Writing by Drawing explore writing’s shadow side. A terra incognita where arabesques, reiterated marks, scribblings, compulsive writings produce “meaning” in a field outside of language by becoming axioms of the unspeakable, of what is unfathomable in the soul as well as in language.
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Art Brut Swiss Made (FR)
Swiss Made, l’Art Brut en Suisse, sous la direction de Sarah Lombardi, Collection del’Art Brut (Lausanne), 2018, disponible enFrançais, allemand, anglais et italien.
Art Brut Swiss Made (EN)
Swiss Made, l’Art Brut en Suisse, sous la direction de Sarah Lombardi, Collection de l’Art Brut (Lausanne), 2018, disponible en Français, allemand, anglais et italien.
Pathologie du cadre
Michel Thévoz, Pathologie du cadre, préface de Sarah Lombardi, Paris, Les Éditions de Minuit, 2020, 160 pages.
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Art Brut Swiss Made (IT)
Swiss Made, l’Art Brut en Suisse, sous la direction de Sarah Lombardi, Collection de l’Art Brut (Lausanne), 2018, disponible en Français, allemand, anglais et italien.
Théâtres (french version )
Pascale Jeanneret, Sarah Lombardi and Eric Vautrin, Théâtres, Lausanne/ Milan, Collection de l’Art Brut/ 5 Continents Editions, 2019, « Art Brut, la collection », under the direction of Sarah Lombardi, 144 pages, more than 100 colour plates, french or english version.
Adolf Wölfli
Theatre (englixh version)
Pascale Jeanneret, Sarah Lombardi and Eric Vautrin, Theatre, Lausanne/ Milan, Collection de l’Art Brut/ 5 Continents Editions, 2019, « Art Brut, la collection », under the direction of Sarah Lombardi, 144 pages, more than 100 colour plates, french or english version.
Wölfli dessinateur-compositeur
Wölfli dessinateur-compositeur, 18 X 24 cm, 60 illustrations including 12 in color, [136] p. Editions L'Age d'Homme, Lausanne, Collection de l'Art Brut, Lausanne, Fondation Adolf Wölfli, Bern, 1991.
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Upcoming
From 28 February 2026 to 27 September 2026
Art Brut in Switzerland – From the Origins of the Collection to the Present
The exhibition Art Brut in Switzerland – From the Origins of the Collection to the Present, celebrating 50 years of creation and artistic freedom, between unknown masterpieces and fascinating stories, where Switzerland saw the birth of an aesthetic revolution.
Opening hours
Every day from 11 am to 6 pm (except Mondays)
Opening reception
On 27 February 2026 17:30
Tickets
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Year-round
Permanent exhibition
The museum constantly displays part of its collection, including works by major creators such as Aloïse Corbaz, Augustin Lesage, Marguerite Sirvins, and Auguste Walla. The Art Brut pieces are created by self-taught artists—solitary individuals living on the margins of society, patients of psychiatric hospitals—who produce work apart from tradition and artistic trends, without concern for public criticism or the gaze of others.
Opening hours
Every day from 11 am to 6 pm (except Mondays)
Tickets
Buy your ticket
Past exhibitions
5th Art Brut Biennial: Beliefs
From 17 December 2021 to 1 May 2022
Art Brut: Frame Work
From 11 December 2020 to 24 May 2021
4th Art Brut Biennial: Theatre
From 29 November 2019 to 30 August 2020
Jean Dubuffet´s Art Brut, the Origins of the Collection - extended until september 25, 2016
From 5 March 2016 to 28 August 2016
Architecture - 13.11.2015 - 17.04.2016
From 13 November 2015 to 17 April 2016
Vehicles
From 8 November 2013 to 27 April 2014