‘Pulsions. Jean Dubuffet, the Final Years (1974–1985)’ at Fondation Dubuffet
Paris, France
07 May 2026
Presented by the Fondation Dubuffet, ‘Pulsions. Jean Dubuffet, the Final Years (1974–1985)’ from 16 April to 24 October 2026 brings together works produced during the last decade of Jean Dubuffet’s life. Far from a concluding chapter, this period reveals an artist working with renewed intensity, embracing instability, improvisation and a profound sense of creative freedom.
The exhibition centres on the years following the completion of the L’Hourloupe cycle, a body of work that had dominated Dubuffet’s practice for over ten years. Its conclusion does not bring closure, but rather a decisive shift. From 1974 onwards, Dubuffet abandons the tightly structured visual systems that defined L’Hourloupe, moving instead towards a more open and exploratory mode of working. The title ‘Pulsions’ reflects this transition, evoking the internal drives and spontaneous impulses that come to guide his practice.
Across painting, drawing and sculpture, Dubuffet’s late works are characterised by a marked lightness and fluidity. Dense, interlocking forms give way to more dispersed compositions in which line assumes a central role. Figures appear only to fragment or dissolve; shapes drift across the surface without settling into fixed configurations. This deliberate instability challenges the viewer’s perception, creating images that seem perpetually in flux.
While certain motifs reappear, they no longer function as anchors. Instead, they surface intermittently, contributing to a rhythm that is at once irregular and controlled. Dubuffet’s approach becomes increasingly process-driven, privileging gesture and movement over resolution. In this sense, the “pulsion” is not only thematic but methodological: it is the force that propels the work forward, resisting closure and continually reopening the field of possibilities.
Bringing together works across a range of media, the exhibition underscores the coherence of this final phase while emphasising its experimental nature. It presents Dubuffet as an artist engaged in a process of ongoing reinvention. In these last years, his practice became increasingly self-reflexive and expansive, driven by a desire to unsettle established forms and sustain the conditions of invention.
