In 1945, Dubuffet – one of the most prominent French artists of the post-war period – coined the term “art brut”. An example of this “crude” art inspired by the mentally ill is this portrait of the art critic Michel Tapié, the first in a series of portraits entitled “People are so much more beautiful than they think. Long live true form.” At the time, these portraits of contemporary artists, writers, and intellectuals were felt to be offensive to their subjects. Dubuffet not only enriched his paints with unusual materials like plaster and tar; he also exaggerated his sitters’ flaws.