Born in Le Havre, France, Jean Dubuffet was a central figure of the École de Paris. After abandoning his formal art education, he pursued a career as a wine merchant before returning to painting in the 1940s, eventually establishing himself as a pioneer of art brut, a term he coined to describe art created outside the boundaries of official culture.

Dubuffet is recognized for his experimental use of materials, often incorporating unconventional substances like sand, tar, and glass into his canvases to create thick, textured surfaces. His work frequently explored themes of human existence through a lens of intentional crudeness, eschewing academic refinement for a more visceral, primitive visual language.

His influence remains a fixture in the global art market and institutional programming. Recent auction highlights, such as his inclusion in major 20th-century and contemporary art sales at Phillips, underscore his enduring status as a cornerstone of modernist art history.