PHOTO | BRUT – Instinctive Photography
Insights into the Bruno Decharme Collection from Paris
Opening on Wednesday, December 10, 2025 at 6.30 pm
Greetings by István VIRÁGVÖLGYI, artistic director, Capa Center
Matthieu BERTON, director of the French Institute of Hungary
Opening remarks by TOPOR Tünde–WINKLER Nóra, Artmagazin
Curated by Emese MUCSI & András VÁRADI
In collaboration with: Bruno Decharme Collection, Foto Arsenal Wien
Supported by: French Institute of Hungary, Veolia Magyarország Zrt., Concorde Értékpapír Zrt., Lucky Eric Machlup, Polgár András, Seres Béla, Varga Zoltán, Vámos György
Venue: Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center
1065 Budapest, Nagymező utca 8.
On view:
December 11, 2025 - March 29, 2026
Tuesday–Friday: 1 pm – 6 pm
Saturday–Sunday: 10 am – 6 pm
Closed on Mondays and public holidays.
More info about the Bruno Decharme Collection: https://abcd-artbrut.net/en/
The exhibition PHOTO│BRUT – Instinctive Photography – Insights into the Bruno Decharme Collection from Paris presents the work of self-taught artists who have developed unique and independent visual worlds over the years, transcending conventional artistic norms. These individuals are driven by a profound inner urge to express themselves through photography and artistic means, giving form to their emotions, passions, manias, anxieties, obsessions, likes, and dislikes. With their instinctive character and sincerity, these works come close to the core of art in its most purest form. The Bruno Decharme Collection in Paris features such aesthetically significant photo brut works created by artists who are unbound by academic influences, art trends, or market expectations. The pieces exhibited at the Capa Center—similar to most authentic art brut works—challenge us, image by image, to rethink what we have always taken for granted in the history of art and photography.
According to the general definition, art brut works originate outside the conventional art world and its institutional frameworks, and most often without their knowledge. The term, which literally means ‘raw,’ ‘rough,’ or ‘unpolished’ art, was first introduced by the artist Jean Dubuffet (1901–1985) in a letter to a friend in 1945. Dubuffet became fascinated by the artworks of patients he encountered during visits to various psychiatric institutions in Switzerland. The term quickly gained traction across Europe and, not long after, spread to the Americas. Dubuffet’s term defined and classified the elemental, unsettling art created by psychiatric patients, prisoners, and those living on the margins of society—works he valued for their dramatic appeal, unpretentiousness, and spontaneity.* By contrast, the “photographic branch” of art brut only came into the focus of art-historical interest much later, at the very beginning of the 2000s. Since then, numerous highly successful exhibitions have been organized and extensive collections have been developed, with one of the largest created by the French filmmaker Bruno Decharme.
Similar to art brut, photo brut is also inspired by individual passions, marginalized life situations, and extreme circumstances. Photo brut creators—often without even knowing it—produce pieces of art. Since some of the artists in this exhibition have lived with psychological challenges, their practice and the distinctive worlds they construct can often be understood as a response to severe traumas in their lives. Their artworks bear the imprint of their unique experiences—whether being confined or voluntarily withdrawing from society due to psychological struggles. Therefore, it is crucial to become acquainted with the life stories of each art brut and photo brut artist, as well as the physical and psychological upheavals that prompted their creative processes.
Emese Mucsi & András Váradi
curators of the exhibition
* Artmagazin 8, 2005, vol. III, no. 2.
Exhibiting artists
ADEMEIT, Horst
BASCOULARD, Marcel
Von BRUENCHENHEIN, Eugene
CADI, Jorge Alberto
CALDICOTT, Lindsay
DARMAFALL, Paul
DON VALENTINO (WOUTER, Valentijn)
DURAN, Lázaro Antonio Martínez
Ismeretlen szerző | Anonymous “METTRAUX”
Ismeretlen szerző | Anonymous “ZORRO”
Ismeretlen szerző | Anonymous “OBSESSION”
Ismeretlen szerző | Anonymous “TYPE 42”
EGEA, José Manuel
ENDO, Fumihiro
GARCIA LASTAYO, Jorge Francisco
GODIE, Lee
GOETZMANN, Yohann
GOODMAN, Elayne
HANDA, Kazuo
HOGANCAMP, Mark
HUGO, Séverine
Günter K. & Margret
MACHCIŃSKI, Tomasz
McCLUSKY, C.T.
MOSER, Albert
The exhibition is realized in collaboration with Foto Arsenal Wien. The corresponding conference will be held in Budapest in spring 2026 as a joint project of the Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center and Foto Arsenal Wien.