Colloque II (Colloquy II)
1946
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gouache and lacquered paint on paper mounted to board
Dimensions
sheet: 27.8 x 37.8 cm (10 15/16 x 14 7/8 in.) support: 28.6 x 38.8 cm (11 1/4 x 15 1/4 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of the Stephen Hahn Family Collection
Accession Number
1995.29.19
Art Historical Context
Jean Dubuffet's *Colloque II (Colloquy II)*, created in 1946, captures the artist's emerging fascination with raw, unpolished expression just after World War II. intimate drawing on paper, mounted to board and measuring about 11 x 15 inches, employs gouache—a vibrant, opaque watercolor—and lacquered paint for a glossy, textured finish. The combination evokes a sense of immediacy and materiality, aligning with Dubuffet's rejection of academic refinement in favor of primal, childlike forms. As a pioneer of *Art Brut* (raw art), Dubuffet drew inspiration from outsider artists, graffiti, and folk...
About the Artist
Jean Dubuffet
Jean Dubuffet (1901–1985) was a French painter and sculptor born into a prosperous family of wholesale wine merchants in Le Havre. His early life revolved around this bourgeois world, with childhood friendships among writers like Raymond Queneau and Georges Limbour shaping his intellectual circle. In 1918, at age 17, he moved to Paris to study painting at the Académie Julian but departed after jus...