Philippe Dereux (1918–2001) is a major figure in European Outsider Art, a self-taught artist who made his mark on this movement with his unique creativity and visual poetry. His work, deeply rooted in exploring organic materials often considered marginal, is distinguished by his innovative use of fruit and vegetable peelings, which he incorporates into his compositions. This bold choice reflects a process of recycling and experimentation that defies conventional norms and represents a break from traditional academic art. One of the key themes of his thinking and engagement is encapsulated in his Petit Traité des épluchures (Little Treatise on Peelings), a book that becomes the manifesto of a creative approach where even the simplest material transforms into a visual language. His trajectory takes a decisive turn in the early 1960s when he meets Jean Dubuffet, the father of Outsider Art, who immediately recognizes the raw and instinctive potential in Dereux's work. Impressed by the sincerity of his approach, Dubuffet integrates Dereux into the movement, forming a partnership that fuels their mutual development in further exploring material and form.

The artist participated in several major exhibitions that allowed Outsider Art to enter the public space and gain international visibility. His works are housed in major museums, including the Museum of Outsider Art in Lausanne, where a substantial collection of his pieces is kept, underscoring his significant role in the evolution of this artistic current. His pieces, often made from organic materials like apple peels, orange skins, and onion layers, transform everyday objects into expressions that are both spiritual and aesthetic, linking matter-based painting with a form of humble poetry. Philippe Dereux remains an essential figure today for understanding Outsider Art. Through his material-focused choices and visual approach, he raises pertinent questions regarding contemporary concerns with sustainability and consumption. His work, simple in appearance but profound in its implications, continues to resonate through time, questioning the place of art in modern society.

Hervé Bohnert’s (b.1967) work delves into the boundaries of perception, confronting mortality while paradoxically celebrating life. A self-taught and unclassifiable artist, he reimagines the traditions of memento mori and funerary art, summoning remnants of an ancient past that continue to resonate in the present. His unique approach pushes the boundaries of art brut into uncharted territories. At the heart of his practice lies an obsessive quest for objects rich with history. He meticulously selects forgotten sepia photographs, 18th-century baroque sculptures, Henri II-style furniture, and massive caryatids. These relics, often dismissed and neglected, are methodically stripped—becoming “sculptural dissections”—to reveal skeletal forms crafted with exceptional anatomical precision.

His works walk a fine line between horror and beauty. Far from shocking with their rawness, the stripped-down figures—sometimes streaked with paint or resembling traces of blood—exude an unexpected elegance. Each piece becomes a meditation not solely on death but on the life it leaves behind. Bohnert’s art is, above all, an act of resurrection. He rescues these objects—abandoned statues, faded photographs, forgotten fragments of everyday life—from oblivion, recontextualizing them within new narratives. With subtle irony, he reminds us that life and memory are deeply intertwined, and that what seemed destined to vanish can be reborn. Hervé Bohnert brings us back to a celebration of life, urging us to reconsider our relationship with existence and memory.

Major Exhibitions:
10/2022 – 05/2023: Würth Museum, Erstein (FR)
2022: Art Paris, Grand Palais Éphémère
2018: Nightmares of the Past, Alsatian Museum (FR)
2018: Abbey of Auberive, Contemporary Art Center
2017: Nightmares of the Past, Alsatian Museum (FR)
2017: Der tanzende Tod und andere Turbulenzen, Fisher Kunsthandel & Edition, Berlin (DE)
2015: Hey! Act III, Halle Saint-Pierre, Paris (FR)
The Wall, Maison Rouge – Fondation Antoine de Galbert, Paris (FR)
2013: Hey! Act II, Halle Saint-Pierre, Paris (FR)

Heinrich Nüsslein (1879-1947) is a major figure in European mediumistic art. Born in Nuremberg, Germany, he began his career as a typographer, bookbinder, and photographer before turning to the antiquities trade. In the early 1920s, he became interested in spiritualism, a pursuit that profoundly transformed his artistic practice. His body of work, though prolific, was largely destroyed by the Nazis, who deemed it “degenerate” due to its spiritual and experimental nature. This tragic loss nonetheless leaves behind a corpus of remarkable intensity, bearing witness to his mystical universe. Heinrich Nüsslein stands as an essential figure in European mediumistic art. His works, tangible traces of a dialogue between the visible and the invisible, question the boundaries of artistic creation and the very act of painting.

Describing himself as a "psychic painter and metaphysical writer," Nüsslein created his works under unusual conditions, often with his eyes closed or in complete darkness, stating: "I do not paint; it paints." These creations, produced quickly within one to fifteen minutes, combine mastery of the brush with spontaneous wiping techniques. His compositions bring to life landscapes, temples, and ethereal figures imbued with the visions and trances that inhabited him.

By the late 1920s, his talent was recognized beyond Germany through national and international exhibitions. Today, his works are carefully preserved and featured in leading public and private collections. In Germany, Sammlung Zander holds several emblematic pieces of his oeuvre. In France, the collections of Bruno Decharme and Antoine de Galbert also give him a place of honor. Through his work, Nüsslein invites us to reconsider the boundaries between art, spirituality, and intuition, situating his practice within a universal and timeless quest.