Aloïse Corbaz: Love, Theatre and the Kaiser
A Swiss governess who fell in love with the idea of Kaiser Wilhelm II and spent over 40 years in a psychiatric hospital drawing lovers, queens and theatres.
By The Outsider Artist editors, Editorial team, Website Studio
Updated
· Last reviewed · 3 min read
In short
- Aloïse Corbaz (1886–1964), known simply as Aloïse, was a Swiss artist and one of the founding figures of art brut.
- She was admitted to the Cery asylum near Lausanne in 1918 and moved in 1920 to La Rosière in Gimel, where she lived until her death.
- She drew in secret at first, using coloured pencils, crayons and, by some accounts, juice from flowers.
- Her work centres on a romantic, theatrical world of lovers, queens and soldiers, linked to her obsession with Kaiser Wilhelm II.
- Jean Dubuffet discovered her work in 1947 and placed it at the heart of his art brut collection.
Who was Aloïse Corbaz?
Aloïse Corbaz was born in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 28 June 1886. She wanted to be a singer, but in 1911 she went to Germany to work as a governess, eventually at Potsdam, near the court of Kaiser Wilhelm II. There she developed an intense, imagined romance with the Emperor, whom she claimed to have met.
She returned to Switzerland at the start of the First World War. Her behaviour became increasingly troubled, and in 1918 she was admitted to the psychiatric asylum at Cery, near Lausanne, and diagnosed with schizophrenia. In 1920 she was moved to La Rosière, an annex in the village of Gimel, where she remained for 44 years, until her death on 5 April 1964.
How did Aloïse start making art?
She began writing and drawing in secret around 1920. Much of her early work was destroyed. In 1936 the hospital's director, Hans Steck, and a general practitioner, Jacqueline Porret-Forel, took a serious interest in her work, gave her materials and encouragement, and began to keep and study what she made. Porret-Forel became her lifelong champion and wrote extensively about her.
What does Aloïse's art look like?
Aloïse filled sheets of paper, sometimes sewn together into long scrolls, with brilliantly coloured figures: voluptuous women with flowing hair and huge blue eyes, often embraced by lovers in military uniform, alongside queens, emperors, opera singers and characters from history. Flowers, crowns and ornaments fill every gap. She worked in coloured pencil and wax crayon, and is said to have used juice from crushed flowers and leaves when colours ran short.
The world she drew is a theatre of love and power, built around her imagined relationship with the Kaiser and her lost dream of the stage. Words and names are written across many sheets.
How did Dubuffet discover her?
Jean Dubuffet saw Aloïse's work in 1947 and included her among the core artists of his first art brut collection. Her drawings were part of the collection donated to Lausanne in 1971, and she is one of the best-represented artists at the Collection de l'Art Brut. In 2012 the Collection de l'Art Brut and Lausanne's cantonal fine art museum presented a joint exhibition, Aloïse: Le Ricochet Solaire. See Jean Dubuffet and art brut.
Where can you see Aloïse's work?
- Collection de l'Art Brut, Lausanne, which holds a large group of her work.
- The cantonal fine art museum (MCBA), Lausanne.
- The American Folk Art Museum, New York, and other collections.
Her work was also shown in the Hayward Gallery's 1979 Outsiders exhibition in London.
Why does Aloïse matter?
Aloïse shows how a person confined for decades could build a rich, joyful and fully realised artistic world. Her work also shows the importance of the people around an artist: without Steck and Porret-Forel, most of it would have been lost, like her earliest drawings.
Key dates
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1886 | Born in Lausanne on 28 June |
| 1911 | Goes to Germany as a governess, eventually at Potsdam |
| 1918 | Admitted to the Cery asylum near Lausanne |
| 1920 | Moved to La Rosière at Gimel; begins drawing in secret |
| 1936 | Hans Steck and Jacqueline Porret-Forel take an interest in her work |
| 1947 | Jean Dubuffet discovers her drawings |
| 1964 | Dies at Gimel on 5 April |
| 2012 | Aloïse: Le Ricochet Solaire exhibition in Lausanne |
Where to go next
Read about art from the asylum, or meet Adolf Wölfli, another of Dubuffet's Swiss discoveries.
Sources and further reading
Didn't find your answer?
Ask us about outsider art, an artist, a place or UK graffiti. We read every question, and the most useful ones are answered on the site.
