Marguerite Burnat-Provins

Marguerite Burnat-Provins was born into a wealthy and cultured family. Encouraged by her father, she became involved in writing and painting from an early age and received artistic training in Paris. Married to a Swiss architect, she painted and wrote, but divorced in 1906 to marry a young engineer. The couple was living in Bayonne when the First World War broke out. Already in fragile health, the war caused her such a shock that it led her to create a series of unprecedented pictorial works entitled My City (“Ma ville”). Marguerite drew and painted as if taking dictation, while suffering from hallucinations. “I undergo them, I feel them coming by hunching my shoulders, and I cannot help but drawing them.” These compositions are populated by imaginary characters, sometimes hybrid creatures that are half-human and half-animal. In 1945, Jean Dubuffet discovered her work and included some of her drawings in his collection. Alongside the publication of numerous books, Marguerite Burnat-Provins continued her singular artistic creation until her death in 1952.