The door of the tower is well hidden in the painting

As the inventor of Art Brut, Jean Dubuffet, the famous artist, is also well known in Lausanne and elsewhere for his collections of strange paintings. La Tour aux Figures in Parc départemental de l’île Saint Germain, is the epitomy of art brut when you walk inside and try to go up the uneven steps and black and white irregular decors. I just went on a private visit with the amazing Anne Laure Bourgau, who is in charge of the work for the department of Hauts de Seine, which also owns Jardins Albert Kahn, musée du Grand Siècle and Parc de Sceaux. It is not os easy to reach if you don’t live in Issy les Moulineaux or in Boulogne and once you get there teh visit itself is quite strenuous with the uneven floors, walls and steps. But this is what Dubuffet wanted: to surprise the visitor and make him unsteady.

You enter the “Gastrovolve” of the tower and immediately feel a little dizzy climbing the steps…

I had seen many images of La Tour aux figures, literally the tower with faces, but never expected to be so impressed physically by its mass and the interior staircase. Commissioned by Claude Mollard at the time of Jack Lang’s ministry, la Tour was completed in 1988 after Dubuffet’s death in 1985. It was hardly ever visited and was listed in 2008. Acquired for the department by Patrick Devedjian in 2015, it was restored (for 1.7 M€) and opened to the public in 2020 every Saturday and Sunday for two on hour visits of 15 people.

Jean Dubuffet’s “La Tour aux Figures” dominates the park of Issy les Moulineaux, which has lovely trees

The tower is 24 m high and is made of reinforced concrete covered with 90 panels in epoxy resin and painted. Dubuffet had made a first model of it, in 1967, after drawing sketches with a ball point pen while attending meetings. You can see one of them at Musée de la Carte à Jouer in Issy. He was a wine merchant at the time and only became an artist at 42. Thus the colors of blue red and black which are out directly from the pen. Children love to visit it and immediately see animal heads or birds in the design. This is typically the characteristics of “Art Brut”: you can find whatever you want in the artwork which is accessible to all.

“Tour aux figures”, detail of the staircase,  © ADAGP, O.Ravoire

The meeting place for the visits is in a building where you can touch the model and the material used for the tower. There, everything is in the Dubuffet colors including the washrooms and the furniture for children. The playground itself is blue red and white in the park! The interior of the “gastrovolve” is now lit, a great relief given the difficulty of the 117 m climb. There are many visits for schools and children with disability, and private visits can be organized upon request.

La Tour is surrounded by beautiful old trees and a fun playground

La Tour aux Figures can be visited Saturdays and Sundays at 3 pm and 4.30 pm. And you can see it from the outside at any time in the Parc de l’Ile Saint Germain. There is a convenient public parking across the little bridge, a restaurant called l’Ile at the entrance of the island.I highly recommend this amazing experience, but wear flat shoes.

You can also visit “La Closerie Falbala” in Périgny-sur-Yerres, where Fondation Dubuffet keeps its collections including models and paintings.