Made between 1975 and 1979, when the artist was already in his mid-seventies, the ‘Théâtres de mémoire’ were assembled from cut-outs of different paintings, arranged and rearranged on the studio wall using magnets before arriving at a final composition. Dubuffet’s process was partly accidental in origin: paintings on paper from the ‘Lieux abrégés’ series were strewn across the studio floor, and their chance overlaps suggested to Dubuffet the possibility of cutting and recombining.
In ‘Le Malentendu’ (The Misunderstanding), three mask-like faces hover against a bold, multicoloured ground, the separation between figure and background seemingly interchangeable. The series title came later, inspired by Dubuffet’s reading of Frances Yates' 'The Art of Memory', which traces the use of visual memory as a tool for ordering thought, a technique practised by philosophers across history. Here, the assembled fragments recall the disjointed nature of human memory, which lacks a clear narrative yet is vivid and full of evocations. This work demonstrates Dubuffet's enduring commitment to exploring interior and exterior, mind and matter, as no longer distinguishable spaces.
