Aloïse Corbaz, known as Aloïse (1886 - 1964), was born in Lausanne (Switzerland) to a large family of modest means; at thirteen, she lost her mother. At the end of her schooling and one year of boarding school, she found herself at loose ends for some time. Her dream was to become an opera singer and, already then, she began composing religious propaganda. To cut short a relationship of which she disapproved, her elder sister ordered Aloïse to leave for Germany; there Aloïse worked as a governess in various situations, including a stint in Potsdam, in William II's court. Thereupon, she fell in love with the emperor, imagining a torrid love affair with him. The war's outbreak obliged her to leave the country hurriedly. Back in Switzerland, she showed signs of such exalted religious and pacifist feelings that she was committed to the Cery-sur-Lausanne asylum in 1918, followed by the La Rosière Asylum in Gimel-sur-Morges, where she would remain until her death.

Shortly after entering the hospital, she began writing and drawing. Until 1936, she did so in secret, using lead pencil and ink. At times, too, she resorted to flower petal juice, as well as crushed leaves and toothpaste. She used wrapping paper, sometimes sewn with thread, in order to achieve large formats; and, too, envelopes, pieces of cardboard and the backs of calendars. Often as well she used sketch books, which came to represent a specific sector of her oeuvre. She developed a fantasized world in these, often favoring the support's vertical direction. Aloïse created a personal cosmogony filled with princely and political figures — like Napoleon Bonaparte, for instance, and blue-eyed historical heroines — like Marie-Antoinette and Queen Elizabeth.

Artwork selection

from the Collection

Shop

30 items available

Books, objects and posters

Find in the online shop a selection of products related to the author

See full shop

Aloïse. Le ricochet solaire

Aloïse. Le ricochet solaire, 5 Continents Editions, Milan/Collection de l’Art Brut, Lausanne/Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne, 2012, 136 pages, 140 color illustrations.

Aloïse - Le ricochet solaire

Brut writings speak out

Brut writings speak out, boxed set with two CDs and a booklet illustrated, Collection de l’Art Brut, in collaboration with the radio station Espace 2, Swiss broadcasting company Radio Télévision Suisse, 2012.

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.

Vehicles

Vehicles (english version), 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.

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.

Order

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.

People

People, curated by Anic Zanzi, Lausanne : Collection de l’Art Brut, 2016, 38 pages.

Architecture

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

Order

Hans Steck ou le parti pris de la folie

Hans Steck ou le Parti pris de la folie,24 cm, 22 b/w ill., 32 pp. Collection de l'Art Brut, Lausanne,1991.

Aloïse - Le ricochet solaire

The Art Brut Fascicle N°07

The Art Brut Fascicle N°07, 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.-

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.

Notebook "Aloïse"

Notebook 32 pages/ 107 mm x 154 mm

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.

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.

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.

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.

Croyances (french version)

Emmanuel Grimaud, Sarah Lombardi and Anic Zanzi, Croyances, Lausanne/ Milan, Collection de l’Art Brut/ 5 Continents Editions, 2021,« Art Brut, la collection », under the direction of Sarah Lombardi,168 pages, more than 100 color plates, available in french or in english..

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.

Beliefs (english version)

Emmanuel Grimaud, Sarah Lombardi and Anic Zanzi, Beliefs, Lausanne/ Milan, Collectionde l’Art Brut/ 5 Continents Editions, 2021, « Art Brut, la collection », under the direction of Sarah Lombardi, 168 pages, over 100 color plates, available in French or English.

Six petites histoires d'Art Brut

Six petites histoires d'Art Brut, Sophie Chabalier, Albertine, Flammarion Jeunesse Père Castor, 2025, 64 pages, cartonné, 21,80 x 26,90

Order

Dubuffet & l'Art Brut

Dubuffet & l'Art Brut, 24 x 29 cm, 233 color ill., 191 pp. Editions 5 Continents/Collection de l’Art Brut, Milan/Lausanne,2005. In French and German.

Order

Aloïse III

Aloïse III, 33 X 24.5 cm - [20] p. Collection de l'Art Brut, Lausanne, 1996. In French, German, and English.

Aloïse et le théâtre de l'univers

Aloïse and the Theater of the Universe, 31 cm, color illustrations, [154] p. Albert Skira, Geneva, 1993 In French.

Aloïse

Aloïse, Collection de l’Art Brut, 2012, 48 pages, 39 colour illustrations.

Exhibitions

See all exhibitions →

Related to the author

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 10 am to 8 pm (except Tuesday)

Tickets

Buy your ticket