How does this artwork elucidate its Historical information?
Throughout his career, Dubuffet created his works as parts of distinct, self-contained series or cycles. Courre Merlan was a part of his Hourloupe cycle, which was the longest-running series, from July 1962 to 1974. Paintings in the Hourloupe are marked by flattened shapes, delineated with dark or black outlines, and a mostly limited color palette--red, white, blue and black. Dubuffet was initially inspired by ballpoint pen doodles he created while talking on the telephone. He believed this style reflected the way objects are seen in the mind. In the Hourloupe series, Dubuffet also veered into three-dimensional sculptures and installations. The Hourloupe cycle, and this work, also reflect Dubuffet's affinity for “art brut”—art produced by children, psychiatric patients, and other untrained artists. In addition, although Dubuffet did not consider himself a Surrealist, he was influenced by the surrealist interest in the unconscious.Dubuffet believed that art addressed itself to the mind and not the physical world. With works such as Courre Merlan that portray objects with little or no reference to their actual colors or dimensions, he intended to prove that the world within the painting might be just as real as the physical world. Dubuffet argued that individuals could create their own versions of reality.
“art brut” Surrealist