Opening of the Jacob Workshop 1972 (≈ 1972)
Paris gallery dedicated to art outside the standards.
1978
Exhibition *The Singuliers of Art*
Exhibition *The Singuliers of Art* 1978 (≈ 1978)
ARC-Museum of Modern Art of Paris, 200,000 visitors.
1983
Inauguration of La Fabuloserie
Inauguration of La Fabuloserie 1983 (≈ 1983)
Opening of the museum in Dicy by Alain Bourbonnais.
1987-1989
Rescue of the Manège de Petit Pierre
Rescue of the Manège de Petit Pierre 1987-1989 (≈ 1988)
Removal and reassembly in La Fabuloserie.
2014
Death of Caroline Bourbonnais
Death of Caroline Bourbonnais 2014 (≈ 2014)
End of his leadership, taken over by their daughters.
2019-2020
30th anniversary of the Manège
30th anniversary of the Manège 2019-2020 (≈ 2020)
Celebration of the work of Pierre Vosard.
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui Aujourd'hui (≈ 2025)
Position de référence.
Key figures
Alain Bourbonnais - Founder and collector
Architect, creator of the "Turbulents*, opened the museum.
Caroline Bourbonnais - Co-founder and Director
Manage the museum until 2014.
Jean Dubuffet - Pioneer of raw art
Support from Alain Bourbonnais and the Jacob Workshop.
Pierre Avezard (Petit Pierre) - Self-taught artist
Creator of the *Manège*, the centrepiece of the museum.
Simone Le Carré-Galimard - Assembly artist
Works exhibited at the Jacob Workshop and La Fabuloserie.
Michel Ragon - Art critic and friend
Co-organised *Les Singuliers de l ́art* (1978).
Origin and history
La Fabuloserie is a private museum of art outside the norm, inaugurated in 1983 in Dicy (now Charny-Orée-de-Puisaye, Yonne) by Alain Bourbonnais. This unique place, conceived as a cabinet of curiosities, exhibits more than a thousand works of self-taught artists, related to raw art. It consists of two spaces: the house-museum, dedicated to paintings, drawings and sculptures, and the inhabited garden, an open-air museum populated by monumental sculptures and dream installations. Among the iconic pieces are the Turbulents of Alain Bourbonnais, the assemblages of Simone Le Carré-Galimard, and the Manège de Petit Pierre, a mechanical work saved and raised between 1987 and 1989.
La Fabuloserie's adventure finds its roots in the Jacob workshop, a Parisian gallery opened in 1972 by Alain and Caroline Bourbonnais. Supported by Jean Dubuffet, a pioneer of raw art, the Bourbonnais exhibited marginal designers such as Emile Ratier, Francis Marshall and Giovanni Podestà. The gallery closed in 1982, leaving room for La Fabuloserie, thought as the natural result of their commitment. Two major exhibitions marked this transition: Les Singuliers de l'art (1978, ARC-Museum d'Art moderne de Paris), with 300 pieces from their collection, and Outsiders (1979, Hayward Gallery, London), where Alain Bourbonnais lent part of his works.
Fabuloserie embodies a magical and subversive vision of art, celebrating creators on the margins of institutions. Alain Bourbonnais, architect and collector, mixes his own work (such as the Turbulents) with that of artists like Janko Domsic, Camille Vidal or Pierre Avesard (known as Petit Pierre). After his death in 1988, his wife Caroline, then their daughters Agnes and Sophie, continued the museum. Since 2014, temporary exhibitions (e.g. Paul Amar's fabulous landscapes, 1999) and tributes (e.g. Caroline Bourbonnais in 2015) have kept this family and artistic adventure alive.
Out-of-standard art, distinct from raw, naive or popular art, is defined by its personal and unconventional nature. The works, often made with recovery materials, reflect dreamlike or mystical universes. Figures such as Emile Ratier (sabotier became sculptor of wooden rides) or Camille Vidal (creator of the Noah's Ark in armed cement) illustrate this quest for creative freedom. La Fabuloserie, through its publications (La Fabuloserie, art hors-les-normes, 2009) and its collaborations (Halle Saint-Pierre, Musée du Dr Guislain), remains a reference point for this marginal art.
The museum is part of an international network, as evidenced by the travelling exhibitions (La Fabuloserie. Museum of Devils and Angels, 2000, Germany) or partnerships (collection A.K. Poland, 2017). His eponymous neologism, Fabuloserie, evokes both the collection of notebooks and films by Alain Bourbonnais and the wonderful spirit of the place. Today, the museum continues to explore this heritage through projects such as the 30th anniversary of the Manège de Petit Pierre (2019-2020) or exhibitions dedicated to contemporary artists (Jean Bordes, 2020-2021).
