The Collection de l’Art Brut in Lausanne presents “The Universe of Armand Schulthess” from Friday 27 November 2026 to Sunday 25 April 2027. The exhibition brings together nearly 300 pieces saved from his garden in Ticino and photographs by Hans-Ulrich Schlumpf.
The story
Armand Schulthess was born in Neuchâtel in 1901 and died in 1972. Trained in business and import-export, he ran a women’s clothing firm in Zurich and then Geneva, which went bankrupt. From 1939, he worked as an office clerk at the Federal Department of Economic Affairs in Bern.
At fifty, he left his job and cut his social ties. He moved to a country house in Ticino, bought ten years earlier. From the 1950s, he shaped a plot of nearly 18,000 m² with paths, footbridges, stairs and objects hung from trees.
Many pieces are reclaimed metal sheets engraved with texts on science and philosophy. After his death, his heirs and the Ticino authorities had the whole site destroyed. Only a few books and a series of assemblages survived.
Swiss German filmmaker and photographer Hans-Ulrich Schlumpf documented the work before it disappeared. In 1976, the year the museum opened, he curated the Collection’s first temporary exhibition, devoted to Schulthess. Fifty years later, he curates the show once again.
Who organises it
The Collection de l’Art Brut is a museum of the City of Lausanne, at Avenue des Bergières 11. Jean Dubuffet entrusted his collection to Switzerland in 1971, and the museum opened in 1976. The exhibition is part of its 50th anniversary programme.
What to find
The route pairs Hans-Ulrich Schlumpf’s photographs with nearly 300 pieces saved from the site. A group acquired by the Collection in 2024 is shown to the public for the first time. The exhibition revisits the 1976 show with previously unseen pieces.
The assemblages combine metal plates, wire and branches. They give an idea of the encyclopaedic garden Schulthess built in Ticino. Admission is free on the first Saturday of each month.
Practical information
- Dates, Friday 27 November 2026 to Sunday 25 April 2027
- Times, Tuesday to Sunday 11 am – 6 pm, closed on Mondays except public holidays, 24 and 31 Dec. 11 am – 5 pm, closed on 25 Dec. and 1 Jan.
- Venue, Collection de l’Art Brut, Avenue des Bergières 11, 1004 Lausanne (bus 3, 20 or 21, Beaulieu-Jomini stop)
- Price, adults CHF 12, AHV and IV recipients CHF 6, groups of 6 or more CHF 6 per person, free for under-18s, students, apprentices and jobseekers, free on the first Saturday of the month
Links
- Official site, Collection de l’Art Brut, The universe of Armand Schulthess
- Tourist office, Lausanne Tourisme, L’univers d’Armand Schulthess
- All events across French-speaking Switzerland, Genève Infos Agenda
Sources
- Lausanne Tourisme, L’univers d’Armand Schulthess, accessed on 14 November 2026
- Collection de l’Art Brut, The universe of Armand Schulthess, accessed on 14 November 2026
- Collection de l’Art Brut, 50th anniversary of the museum, accessed on 14 November 2026
- Collection de l’Art Brut, home page, accessed on 14 November 2026
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