Aloïse Corbaz was a visionary artist whose vibrant, dreamlike drawings emerged from the depths of her inner world, fuelled by spiritual obsession, unfulfilled longing, and a profound sense of divine romanticism. Diagnosed with schizophrenia and confined to psychiatric institutions for much of her life, Corbaz created an expansive body of work that she believed was inspired by higher powers and romantic idealism—channelled through visions that transcended the limitations of her environment. Though not explicitly religious in the traditional sense, her art expresses a form of ecstatic spirituality—charged with symbolism, devotion, and transcendental beauty.
Born in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1886, Corbaz worked as a governess at the German imperial court in Potsdam before World War I, where she developed a fixation on Kaiser Wilhelm II. This idealised obsession became a central element of her inner cosmology and a lifelong source of artistic inspiration. After returning to Switzerland and showing signs of mental distress, she was institutionalised in 1918, where she remained until her death in 1964. It was within the confines of these institutions that her remarkable art began to take shape.
Corbaz did not view herself as a traditional artist. She saw her work as flowing from a divine or internal compulsion—an act of spiritual necessity. She believed herself to be in contact with a higher realm and regarded her drawings as messages or expressions from this source. In her world, earthly love and spiritual love were intertwined, and her art became a medium through which she navigated that sacred entanglement. She frequently wrote poems and texts alongside her drawings, sometimes directly addressing spiritual figures or lovers, imbuing her work with a lyrical and devotional tone.
Her drawings, usually made with coloured pencils, crayon, and sometimes found materials like wrapping paper or tissue, are saturated with rich, glowing colours and intricate detail. She often depicted idealised couples, royal courts, goddesses, angels, and theatrical pageants—scenes of love, beauty, and harmony rendered with obsessive care and visionary intensity. The figures, often with flowing hair and elaborate garments, seem suspended in a timeless, otherworldly realm. Her compositions overflow with life, filling every corner of the page, resisting hierarchy or central focus, as if she were capturing the entirety of a vision in one continuous breath.
Though Corbaz did not align herself with any spiritual doctrine, her work expresses a mystical worldview—one in which love is the ultimate truth and artistic creation is a sacrament. Her drawings suggest a universe governed by passion, imagination, and divine radiance. Even her portrayal of earthly rulers and imperial figures is transfigured into something spiritual, symbolic of eternal union and sacred longing.
It wasn’t until the 1940s that her work was discovered by Jean Dubuffet, who included her in his collection of Art Brut—a category celebrating raw, untrained artistic vision. Yet Corbaz’s work defies simple classification. It is not just raw; it is refined by inner light, guided by a metaphysical yearning that finds in colour and line a form of prayer.
Aloïse Corbaz’s legacy is one of radiant inner vision. Her art reveals the spiritual potential of love, imagination, and beauty—even when born in solitude and silence. She reminds us that the divine does not always come from above—it may arise from within, wild and luminous, speaking in colour and devotion from the heart of the unseen.
